Dec 14

Written by: Rev. Ed Boon
12/14/2011 5:21 PM 

HAPPY HOLYDAY

As I sat down to write this article, I couldn’t help but think how ironic it is that the Christmas season which should be a time of peace and joy seems so often to be anything but that. I’m not quite sure why that is. But it is all too often like that. The first Christmas was no different. The trip to Bethlehem had to be stressful. Not finding a room when Mary was about to give birth was certainly even more so. Getting dumped in a stable probably was off the charts, but God always knows best. On that cold dark night when everything seemed to be going wrong, God actually provided the perfect spot, away from the drunken tumult of an overcrowded inn. It was the perfect spot to give birth in privacy, the perfect spot to receive the outcast shepherds. It was--the perfect spot for God’s son to be born.

So often we grumble and complain and look at the world through pessimistic eyes forgetting all too often that yes, God is still in charge. If we’ll just stop rushing around and start trusting Him we’ll find that in the midst of the hustle and bustle of this season, in the midst of the financial turmoil and civic unrest, in the midst of threats of all sorts both at home and abroad, God has not abdicated his position. He is still God and He is still Emmanuel – God with us. How important it is that we let go of our fears and frustration and let God work.

While I still insist at this time of year on saying ‘Merry Christmas’ because I think it is important to let folks know that we are believers, I’m not convinced that the “Seasons Greetings” bit is all that bad a thing. I say that because there is no doubt in my mind that the ‘commercial Christmas’ has become far too important and I think it is actually a good thing to separate the ‘commercial Christmas’ from the real thing. Let people have their winter festival of lights, their season’s greetings, their lights and tinsel and gift exchanges and let’s get back to identifying Christmas with Emmanuel, God becoming man. Let’s refocus for our definition of the word Christmas on the Philippians description of God humbling Himself even to dying on the cross for us. Let us in turn humble ourselves with the true servant spirit and let us praise God at this Christmas time for the great work He has done in and through us.

A new expression has recently come into our vocabulary—Tebowing. It refers first to Tim Tebow’s act of publicly kneeling in prayer during and after games. It has taken on a secondary meaning of mocking Tebow for that act. When asked by Bill O’Reilly recently if he thought that God really cared about who won a game between the Broncos and another team his answer was: “You misunderstand what I’m doing, I’m not asking God to help me win and I’m not thanking Him for helping me to win, I’m praising and glorifying God for the gifts he has given me. That, of course, is what we should be doing at this time, praising God for THE GIFT He has given us. As we come up to Christmas my prayer is that that is just what our church will be first and foremost doing—praising God for THE GIFT He has given us, and for the gifts he has given us.

In the midst of deadlines and committee meetings and roof leaks and pipe leaks and mishaps and upset people and obstacles of all sorts that could easily distract us from the true message of Christmas I praise God that our distractions are not his distractions He is still there and He is working and lives are being changed. We are many times forced to bear great burdens. There are friends and loved ones who are far from the Lord. There are folks who are seriously ill. There are those among us who are out of work and threatened by financial crisis. Many times as we look through our human eyes things seem bleak. The threat of terrorism, or even the Mayan calendar’s apocalyptic prediction of the end of the world may seem threatening and frightening to some. But the wonderful message that comes to us this December 25th HOLYDAY is that as we head into the New Year we do so with the realization that God is still here, He is still working and He is still in control. And no one, nothing, not even the gates of Hell will prevail against Him. Praise His Name.