“AND KNOW THAT I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS,
TO THE END OF TIME.”
Jesus Christ
Christmas is a time when we celebrate the coming of the Christ child for the salvation of the world. Did I really have to define this to you? Watching the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Plaza you did not hear much about the birth of the savior of the world. Many more shows and especially the advertisements seem to just view this miracle as a great opportunity to be loud, sell junk, and promote a culture that has little to do with a baby being born of a virgin, in a stable, surrounded by animals. I am afraid that if the reporters who ask simple questions of people on the streets were to ask why there is this great celebration you would get a lot of answers that go just beyond dumb.
As a culture the act of giving presents has become like the money changers in the Temple that Christ threw out with a knotted cord. The act of giving to others is an acknowledgment of the greatest gift that was given to mankind. It has turned into a spending orgy. On Christmas all churches will see members that are only seen twice a year.
Merchants get started on Christmas just as soon as Halloween is over with a brief nod to Thanksgiving. How appropriate the term ‘Black Friday’ is.
The joy of giving gets to be the anxious expectation of getting for too many. I am tired of celebrities who define what they believe a good Christian is. When asked what he thought of Christians Gandhi replied “I am sure that they are fine, if I would only meet one.” We all need to work on our Christian life, but we forget the reason Christ was born is that we never can achieve quite what we should. But it wouldn’t hurt if more tried.
I fully intended to make this a more light hearted story but I went to find a Christmas image to put on our family Christmas letter, and went thru 6 sites trying to find any that related to Christ.
Maybe next week I will talk about the wonderful people in Kansas that you should buy your gifts from.
