Don't Forget the Feelings and the Awe This Christmas

drawing by Ed Fisher, as it appeared in the New Yorker magazine

   Christmas is here. For many folks, this cartoon captures how many of us feel as the season of shopping and preparing comes to a close: crowded, pushed around, and not all that good.
   I laugh at the last line of the caption underneath: once the train is in motion start singing. We've all packed too many people, places and things into a small window of time, and then we are told to sing. As if being merry is something that we can be commanded to do!
   We resist, for good reasons. Dictating the feelings and emotions of others does not work. Some people find it hard to be merry all of the time during this time of the year. Memories are strong, right now, and those memories take us back to when loved ones were still with us and things were different. The holidays can be difficult. I believe we must be ever vigilant to reach out to those who are living with grief and loss and extend our care and compassion, especially now.
   The cartoon busyness of the modern American holidays also leaves out the room we need to be awed by that first Christmas. The versions from Matthew and Luke are both filled with moments of surprise and wonder. Elizabeth and Zechariah get the surprise of the their lives, when told they have have a son named John, who comes to prepare the world for the Christ. Later, there were angels making startling announcements to both Mary and Joseph. An angelic chorus directs shepherds to a cave used as a stable, of all places, to find a child just born. All the while, we're told God's plan to redeem all of the world is being carried out. The first Christmas was anything but routine and hectic.
   In the midst of all of the emotions and busyness of the season, may we move at our own pace toward the scene being played out before us. May we gaze with awe at how the God of the Universe is choosing to reveal himself to us this year. Grace and Peace to you, Scott.

Waiting on the Baby

   How are you with waiting? Me neither! Most of us don't like waiting. I have some examples to consider...

• tapping your foot while standing behind the really slow person in line at the store
• inching forward in your car even though the light is still red
• pressing the elevator button more than once

Really, those are the innocent examples of how we don't like to wait. Yet, there is no greater season of waiting that the one we are right now waiting on to start: Christmas. The church spends four weeks waiting on Christmas - we call it Advent - because we need to get our hearts ready for the big day. But, have we thought about the waiting that happened before that first Christmas? Let's go to the Bible. It says...

While they were there, the time came for Mary to have her baby. – Luke 2:6

You know the story; Joseph and Mary leave their respective homes in Galilee and travel a few days journey south to be included in the Roman census that was happening in Bethlehem, because that was something of the county seat for the local government of Joseph's family. What we don't know is how long they were there before the census was to happen. I don't think the Romans were interested in making it go smoothly. So, when it says, "while they were there," how long was that? It could have been days or weeks or even a couple of months!
   Plenty of you know about waiting for a baby to be born. Many people pass the time tying up loose ends at work, getting the nursery all set, or any number of other activities. Mary had none of those options. Imagine sitting in the home of some cousin of your fiance', more than eight months pregnant, and not knowing when the baby would finally arrive. Talk about being in the need of prayer!
   For all of the ways art and music have captured the Nativity scene perfectly, we cannot forget God choose two ordinary people in an ordinary place to enter the world as a helpless child. Do these two things, 1) don't complain about waiting without thinking about Mary in those last weeks, and 2) open your heart to God to show up in the ordinary everyday moment.
   Grace and peace, Scott

Do You Hear What I Hear?

   Can you hear Perry Como crooning that it is starting to look a lot like Christmas? Do you agree there is as much to hear at Christmas as there is to see? 

   For me, I know what season it is when I hear Bing Crosby singing White Christmas, or I'll be Home for Christmas or even that Hawaiian classic, Mele Kalikimaka. His voice captures the season, for me. But, the list is long, isn't it?

   Can you hear Johnny Mathis singing Silver Bells? 

   What about Bobby Helms singing Jingle Bell Rock?

   What about the persuasive appeals of Dean Martin singing Baby, Its Cold Outside?  

   What about Brenda Lee is Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. 

   I think Gene Autry singing Frosty the Snowman can probably elicit as much audience participation as any, though Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is high on the list, too. And, I haven't even mentioned the tunes from Charlie Brown's Christmas movie. 

   Music is so important to what it means to prepare for Christmas. Even as we think about that first Christmas, we hear a heavenly chorus singing praises to God over the heads of shepherds as described in Luke 2.

   The combined choirs that have been preparing for months now will touch your heart on Sunday at 6:00 PM. Join us this Sunday evening for music that prepares us, again, for Christmas to come. Christmas coming every year is God's way of reminding us of our need for a savior. Christmas is the evidence of God's hope in and plans for the world. 

   Grace and peace, Scott