A Christmas Story

We all know on Christmas day the infamous 24 hour marathon of “A Christmas story” envelops our lives for at least one run through if not more. The question I pose is has Christmas become more about materialistic gains than about the greatest gift in human history?

I need to give credit where credit is due and this blog idea comes from a dear friend and brother, Scott Hackett. With that in mind let me set the stage. Recently Scott and I helped facilitate a 24 hour “rock-a-thon” in the youth zone at Macedonia United Methodist Church. Throughout the day we had three bible study sessions, one after lunch, after dinner and at four in the morning. Throughout the bible study Scott posed the question “why do we give gifts at Christmas?” I thought about this all day because no one had ever posed that question to me before. I knew it had something to do with the birth of Jesus but I was not completely sure until further investigation. More on the bible study later.

For those who do not know me I work in the dreaded retail business and this time of year for me is quite depressing when it comes to the tactics that most retailers, mine included, use to push sales. They say it is the holiday season and people will want to buy gifts for their family and friends. This got me thinking, how do materialistic gifts like Xbox360, Playstation3, movies, money etc. make people happy? One solution I came up with was perhaps, the surprise that someone would take the time and effort to spend a great deal of money on me or whoever in order to make me or whomever “feel” good? Or perhaps it is entitlement, because most of my generation has been brought up understanding that when Christmas comes around we get what we want; therefore we are entitled those things. The truth of the matter is, both postulations are correct, but for the wrong reasons.

We live in a society where the true meaning of Christmas is being smothered by “politically correctness” and as a result when you go and buy gifts the clerks say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”, this boils my blood! Awhile back Pastor Joe Rossi talked about Christmas and how everything revolved around the birth of Jesus and even the secular businesses could not deny that; however, nowadays Jesus has been replaced by the lust to have mundane items like a video game system, thus the meaning of Christmas has deteriorated into a day of gift exchange without knowing the true meaning.

Returning to the rock-a-thon bible study and the question Scott inquired about. The answer can be found in the gospels, particularly in Luke. Let’s dive into a few passages:

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger (Luke 2:11-12 NIV).

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God saying:
Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel (Luke 2 26-32 NIV).

This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too (Luke 2 34-35 NIV).

What do all of these passages have in common? They all talk about Jesus, the Son of God. Why would God send His only Son to live among sinners? Well, in a word, love. He loves us so much that He would send his only Son to show us how we need to be. As a result of Jesus’ teachings we crucified Him, God’s only Son paid for our sins on the cross with His blood. What I came up with throughout this bible study is that Christmas is all about God’s love for us. He gave us the ultimate gift, Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior. So to answer the question Scott asked, we give gifts because the ultimate gift was given to us. Unfortunately too many people in this country have forgotten about that gift and worry more about whether they have enough money to buy all the gifts for their family and friends and therefore have morphed Christmas into a day of palpable gift giving. What people do not realize is that we can give gifts that do not cost money, but are worth a heck of a lot more than what those materialistic gifts would cost. I am talking about the gift of time or agapé love. In my estimation those are worth more and communicate what Christmas is truly about!

Thanks for tuning in this week!
Your brother in Christ,
Ryan