The calendar is not yet reading December 25, but I’ve already received several wonderful and generous gifts. All the gifts I’ve received have shown that the person giving them knows me personally. Every gift is thoughtful (I’m sure the word thoughtful is somewhere in the definition of gift), but some take more thought.
A few months ago I was buying a birthday gift for a friend, and my youngest son happened to be with me. He commented, “Wow, you’re putting a lot of thought into this…” This is not to say I’m the end all/be all of gift giving; I’m not, but don’t we all long to give a gift that will tell the person- I know you, I care about you, and I’m giving you something I hope will tell you just that. We all love gifts that we can tell took some thought…something that says we are known, even to the point of what brings us joy.
That brings me to Christmas. Not to sound cliché, or fall into the “Stuff Christians Say” realm, but Jesus was the ultimate expression of a thoughtful gift. God knows us. He knows our deepest desires, He knows our sin, He knows what breaks our heart, and what makes it skip a beat with overwhelming joy. He had a gift in mind that would be everything we ever needed. His gift would protect, provide, and redeem us. His gift would love us tenderly, but at the same time with great fervor. His gift would continue to give us other gifts, like hope, peace, and assurance. His gift would be a gift not for one day, but for eternity.
We will all receive gifts next week. Many of them will be thoughtful, and others may fall (or be thrown) in the ‘return as soon as possible’ pile. No matter what we get next week, we’ve already been given the ultimate gift. The Giver was thinking of us corporately and individually when He gave it. He gave it without regard to His own sacrifice. He gave out of a love that we can’t even begin to comprehend.
As I watch the people I care about open gifts next week, I will take great joy in seeing their faces light up. I wonder if God watches us this way…waiting to see if our faces will light up, or if our hearts will skip a beat, as we fully and completely comprehend the extent of His gift to us. We’ve been given the gift, but do we know how truly precious it is?
This Week’s Announcements:
Christmas Eve Services will be held at 4pm and 6pm on…Christmas Eve of course! Each service will last an hour, but will vary in “feel.” The first one at 4pm will be more interactive (great for kids) and will feature our student ministry worship team leading us in worship. The second one will be more traditional.
Drag everyone away from the tree for a little while, and join us as we celebrate Jesus’ birth together on Christmas Day at 11:00am. (*Kids, feel free to wear your PJ’s to this service)
What God is Teaching Us:
Follow the link below to see this past Sunday’s curriculum:
This link is no longer available
Funny Things Kids Do and Say…
This was overheard while one four year old was praying and thanking God for Christmas… “Jesus, I’m so sorry that I missed your first birthday.”
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
I’ve come to discover that traditions for this time of year vary greatly from family to family. Here are a few I’ve heard about recently: a visiting elf who watches you for Santa, special pajamas to be worn on Christmas Eve, watching “Charlie Brown Christmas” while drinking hot chocolate (this was a must!), putting reindeer food in the yard, putting the baby Jesus in the nativity on Christmas morning- but not before, believing in Santa, not believing in Santa, giving only 3 gifts, giving too many gifts to count…the list could go on and on.
Traditions were never a huge deal in my family. I don’t remember us doing anything around the holidays exactly the same every year. I don’t think this was a bad thing….we just didn’t. I remember every holiday being fun and full of family time. Maybe that was the only tradition we really needed.
I started several traditions with my boys through the years- some stuck and some didn’t. There are a few that we still continue to this day. The first is the new pajamas tradition. We take great pride in picking out our Christmas PJ’s. We all go shopping together a week or two before Christmas, and pick out just the right ones. The only rule is that they cannot match. It’s a tradition, but we’re not “that” family. The second is the Nutcracker collection. Each of my boys receives a new nutcracker every year from me. I try to find just the right one- something that reminds me of them from that year. Each one is unique to their personality, what they’ve been interested in that year, or something that elicits a great memory. For instance, Mitchell got a nutcracker dressed all in the color orange last year because he became a Syracuse “Orangeman” when he went to college. These traditions don’t add anything to the Spiritual emphasis of Christmas. They are just fun.
The Spiritual emphasis we place on Christmas doesn’t have to come with a list of traditions, it’s a tradition all its own. The faith in a Savior born in Bethlehem, who grew up to die for our sins, and then rise again on the third day is part of who we are as a family. We don’t have to add a whole lot of traditions around that to make it important to us. We don’t have to think of ways to make the birth of Jesus special…it was special then, and it’s special now- period. This is not to say that we don’t do things to specifically celebrate Jesus- we do. We read of His birth in God’s Word together, we have a “Happy Birthday Jesus” cake for dessert on Christmas Day, we do a “Walk to Bethlehem” somewhere around town…just to name a few.
The point is this, all of those things are good, but even if we stopped doing them, Christmas would still come. One day – maybe sooner than I want- my boys will stop shopping for pajamas with me. One day, they will display their nutcracker collections in their own homes- or at least put them in a box in their own basements. One day I will no longer sit on a couch with boys on each side as I read Luke 2. One day someone will decide that the birthday cake is no longer needed for dessert, and sadly, one day a walk around Bethlehem will be a faint memory. Despite all of that, Christmas will still come. Jesus will still be born. Jesus will still be King. Jesus will still be a Savior who loved us enough to die for our sins.
Our traditions don’t make or break Christmas. Only our belief in a very real and living God can make or break…everything.
This Week’s Announcements:
Christmas Eve Services will be held at 4pm and 6pm on…Christmas Eve of course! Each service will last an hour, but will vary in “feel.” The first one at 4pm will be more interactive (great for kids) and will feature our student ministry worship team leading us in worship. The second one will be more traditional.
What God is Teaching Us:
Follow the link below to see this past Sunday’s curriculum:
This link is no longer available
Funny Things Kids Do and Say…
One little girl, trying to gain her friend’s attention, calls out, “Eleven!” The friend’s name is Evelyn. She may have wondered why the friend never answered.
One 4 year old brings his special “backpack” to church each week. This is funny for two reasons; one, it’s not a backpack, but is instead the empty case for a folding chair, and two, it is always filled with something different and unique. This week’s treasures included his sister’s polka-dotted slippers (which he put on as soon as he entered the room), and some “gold” he found in his backyard. The gold was in fact a Q-tip dipped in some sort of yellow paint. (Proof once again that we should just give our kids empty boxes for Christmas!)
Traditions were never a huge deal in my family. I don’t remember us doing anything around the holidays exactly the same every year. I don’t think this was a bad thing….we just didn’t. I remember every holiday being fun and full of family time. Maybe that was the only tradition we really needed.
I started several traditions with my boys through the years- some stuck and some didn’t. There are a few that we still continue to this day. The first is the new pajamas tradition. We take great pride in picking out our Christmas PJ’s. We all go shopping together a week or two before Christmas, and pick out just the right ones. The only rule is that they cannot match. It’s a tradition, but we’re not “that” family. The second is the Nutcracker collection. Each of my boys receives a new nutcracker every year from me. I try to find just the right one- something that reminds me of them from that year. Each one is unique to their personality, what they’ve been interested in that year, or something that elicits a great memory. For instance, Mitchell got a nutcracker dressed all in the color orange last year because he became a Syracuse “Orangeman” when he went to college. These traditions don’t add anything to the Spiritual emphasis of Christmas. They are just fun.
The Spiritual emphasis we place on Christmas doesn’t have to come with a list of traditions, it’s a tradition all its own. The faith in a Savior born in Bethlehem, who grew up to die for our sins, and then rise again on the third day is part of who we are as a family. We don’t have to add a whole lot of traditions around that to make it important to us. We don’t have to think of ways to make the birth of Jesus special…it was special then, and it’s special now- period. This is not to say that we don’t do things to specifically celebrate Jesus- we do. We read of His birth in God’s Word together, we have a “Happy Birthday Jesus” cake for dessert on Christmas Day, we do a “Walk to Bethlehem” somewhere around town…just to name a few.
The point is this, all of those things are good, but even if we stopped doing them, Christmas would still come. One day – maybe sooner than I want- my boys will stop shopping for pajamas with me. One day, they will display their nutcracker collections in their own homes- or at least put them in a box in their own basements. One day I will no longer sit on a couch with boys on each side as I read Luke 2. One day someone will decide that the birthday cake is no longer needed for dessert, and sadly, one day a walk around Bethlehem will be a faint memory. Despite all of that, Christmas will still come. Jesus will still be born. Jesus will still be King. Jesus will still be a Savior who loved us enough to die for our sins.
Our traditions don’t make or break Christmas. Only our belief in a very real and living God can make or break…everything.
This Week’s Announcements:
Christmas Eve Services will be held at 4pm and 6pm on…Christmas Eve of course! Each service will last an hour, but will vary in “feel.” The first one at 4pm will be more interactive (great for kids) and will feature our student ministry worship team leading us in worship. The second one will be more traditional.
What God is Teaching Us:
Follow the link below to see this past Sunday’s curriculum:
This link is no longer available
Funny Things Kids Do and Say…
One little girl, trying to gain her friend’s attention, calls out, “Eleven!” The friend’s name is Evelyn. She may have wondered why the friend never answered.
One 4 year old brings his special “backpack” to church each week. This is funny for two reasons; one, it’s not a backpack, but is instead the empty case for a folding chair, and two, it is always filled with something different and unique. This week’s treasures included his sister’s polka-dotted slippers (which he put on as soon as he entered the room), and some “gold” he found in his backyard. The gold was in fact a Q-tip dipped in some sort of yellow paint. (Proof once again that we should just give our kids empty boxes for Christmas!)
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