Is This All There Is?
Posted on Dec 24, 2013 by David Whetter
Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator and Sustainer, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit that abides in each of us. Amen.
Well, it is finally here! After weeks of shopping, buying, planning, baking, cooking, partying, celebrating, decorating, and for some of us, traveling, Christmas is finally here. Christmas carols have been playing on all the radio stations, some stations even play only Christmas carols this time of year, and now, Christmas is finally here. Most of the TV shows have had Christmas themes in them. We have been inundated with advertisements that have reminded us that Christmas was coming and now it is here. For the past several weeks, we have been on Christmas overload as we have waited for tonight to finally get here and now, it is time to eat, drink and be merry.
If you think about it, though, of all the holidays during the calendar year, whether they are secular and religious, Christmas is quite the high-effort holiday, isn’t it? Oh, we have lots of low-effort holidays, like Memorial Day or Labor Day. I mean these holidays really take no effort, do they? Maybe you have a cookout at your house, but there isn’t much effort put forth. There’s not much planning. Now Easter and the July 4th, I would consider that mid-effort holidays. For these holidays some of us do a little decorating, we might have a dinner or a BBQ, and then of course there is the decorating of eggs, the hiding of baskets or the fireworks, but none of this compares to the effort put forth for Christmas. Christmas requires the most decorations, the most shopping, lots of eating and celebrating and then of course there are the school programs and the church programs and lastly, there is the exchanging of gifts, isn’t there. Christmas is a high effort holiday.
The world has been in a frenzy for the past eight weeks or so and it has been building to this crescendo which is tonight. Heck, some retailers have been open for the past 100 hours straight making sure that shoppers had every chance possible to buy more presents. I heard that some stores, like Target, are staying open until 10:00 tonight. But, all of that is coming to an end and depending on your family traditions, tonight or tomorrow morning you will open your presents, eat your big meals and Christmas will come to an end.
I know at my house, we usually all get together on Christmas Day, but this year that won’t happen until this weekend because our oldest daughter and son-in-law can’t get here until Friday. But when we get together and we open those presents, there will be this huge pile of ripped wrapping paper in the middle of the room and it will all get gathered up into one of those huge green trash bags which will be the signal that Christmas is over. And then, after all of the excitement, after all of the hustle and bustle of the past several weeks, we all ask, is that all there is?
Truth be told, though, none of all this hustle and bustle is what Christmas is about, is it? There was just as much hustle and bustle leading up to that first Christmas Eve a little over 2000 years ago. Oh, they weren’t busy shopping and baking cookies, but they were just as busy trying to get to their hometowns for the census. The world was filled with chaos and craziness, just like these past several weeks and just like will happen tonight and tomorrow, most people missed the great event. Although most believed that the big hoopla that was going on was about Caesar and his census, the truth is, all of that was only necessary, so that Jesus could be born in Bethlehem, as the prophets had foretold.
Yes, Christmas is about much more than decorations and gifts, and most of us know that. Most of us know that it is about something much deeper, but for many of us, what that something deeper really is, is awfully hard to see. Our lives are so filled with the craziness of the world, with illnesses and loneliness, with troubles and fears that we can’t see, or feel the real meaning of Christmas.
Christmas is about love. Christmas is about a love that runs so deep that nothing can take it away, not even our own sinfulness. Christmas is about a love that is all forgiving and never failing. Christmas is about a love that honors and cherishes. Christmas is about a baby who loves his family so much that nothing will ever keep him from caring for and being with his family, not even death.
The problem with the way the world has attempted to define Christmas is that we have been told all our lives that we experience the love of Christmas through the presents we receive and we give. Christmas we have been told is about the presents. But the problem with that is hat once you open the presents, the joy and excitement soon fades. I read not too long ago that the majority of people can’t even remember what they got for Christmas last year. When I hear things like that, I have to ask, is that all there is?
The real gift of Christmas can only be found in one place, the manger! Yes, in that manger, the world received its first Christmas gift. In the manger, the world received the one gift that it needed most, the gift of a never-ending, a never-failing, all-forgiving love. God sent his only Son, Jesus, the Christ, into this world, not as some super power to rule over us, but instead, God sent a baby, in a manger, who would grow to love and care for his people so much that he would willingly die for them.
Brothers and sisters, the real joy of Christmas can only be found in the one place, the manger. In this gift of a baby that God gave to the world over 2000, we can, and will, find the everlasting joy that we all seek and that only Christ can give. All other gifts, all other joy is fleeting and will fade quickly. Only the happiness and contentment of Christ, the true gift of Christmas is real.
May you experience the true joy of Christmas this year and may you come to know his love for you; a love that does not end when the wrapping paper is thrown away; a love that does not stop when they stop singing the Christmas carols. When you look at those empty boxes after you have opened all your presents tonight or tomorrow, may you come to know that there is much more for you in the love of Jesus, the Christ child. Amen.