Many have asked me in the last week or so, "Are you ready for Christmas?" My answer has been, "I'm not sure what you mean be 'ready for Christmas'."
It seems that we have confused the celebration of the coming Savior with the accumulation of gifts and the hold of family traditions. You know: the spritiual one's like decorating the house with green, red and gold things and baking copious amounts of sugary snacks.
If that is the Christmas that I'm supposed to be getting ready for, then, no, I'm not ready. Nor do I plan to get ready for that. See, I believe that me and my family would be much better ready for Christmas if we took our minds away from the hoopla that has been made a part of Christmas, and instead spent some time focusing on the Greatness of God that he should send His Son into this world to rescue people from the evil and the greed of this world.
This year, I have an idea about how I'm going to share the Christmas story with my children. In stead of reading the passages normally read on Christmas eve or Christmas morning (usually Luke 2 and Matthew 1 and 2), I'm going to read passages that talk more about the purpose for Jesus coming to this world. I thought that I could start with John 1 and talk about the spiritual reality of Jesus setting aside his glory to dwell amoung people. I think this will help us to move beyond the traditions of the season, into a realization of the great thing that we celebrate on December 25.
Read Cal Thomas' comentary on Christmas. He has an interesting message to the Church about our unwillingness to separate the holy event from the unholy practices of this world.
