“Don’t expect it all to be good,” is one of my old neighbour's expressions. My old neighbour in Saskatchewan applies this saying to every special occasion. I phoned last week to wish Ed and Ruby a very merry Christmas and Ed said that he didn't expect Christmas to be all good. When I asked, "Why not?" I heard how anything could happen to undo the joy of the season, from burned turkey to a gift tie that can promote nightmares. Ed loves to swim against the current of good will in every season. He feels he is realistic about the special times of year as well as the ordinary times. “Don’t expect too much good or too few aggravations anytime,” is how Ed explains life.
Many feel Christmas time can become like a huge jigsaw puzzle, with no picture to refer to concerning how it is to look if it is put together in a right manner. Is Christmas a time too busy to fit everything together or to fit it all in with no pieces left over? Is Christmas a compulsory thunderstorm that we go through together? Have we gone from Christmas being the time when Christians attended church to celebrate Jesus' birth, to the Holiday Season when everyone gives gifts, eats and drinks and gets ready for Boxing Day sales? Does it seem Christmas now comes from a store, not from God?
One woman wrapped her Christmas presents early with birthday wrapping paper. Realizing she had her Christmas presents wrapped in the paper saying Happy Birthday, she saved the day by adding the word Jesus to the wrapping paper. Christmas is a way of saying, “happy birthday Jesus.” The first Christmas, the Word of God became flesh and made His dwelling among us. In the baby Jesus all the fullness of the God lived and lives in bodily form. The words of Isaiah proclaim of Jesus’ birth; “To us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
The baby Jesus born of Mary was a gift of peace for us. He accomplished our peace before God. Just as through the disobedience of Adam, people became sinners, so also in the obedience of Jesus, people became forgiven or righteous. Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. When we believe in Jesus, he promises that he is the way, and the truth and the life. Jesus offers to everyone the gift of forgiveness if they accept it. Christmas is the mystery that Jesus was born among us, because we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we could clearly realize. In spite of this, Jesus was among us to show us we are more loved and accepted by God than we could ever dare to hope.
Here is a way to keep Christmas daily. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies and do unto others as you would have them do to you. Christmas can last all year long in this way.
