How do you see Christmas?

It’s hard to believe but we are nearly at the end of another year. Christmas is fast approaching and with it comes a whole host of different emotions and approaches to the Christmas season. I wonder which one of these statements characterises you best… 

Christmas is my Life - You live for Christmas! You are planning things all year round; you start buying presents in the January sales... for next Christmas; you decorate your tree and play Christmas songs in November; you watch as many Christmas films as you can; you  enjoy every moment, trying to squeeze out as much Christmas spirit as possible - after all  it’s all about the journey!

The Organisers - Your Christmas is like a military operation. From the decorating to the buying of presents, to the making of Christmas dinner - everything has its time and its place and lists are a plenty! Life is busy, but that’s how you like it. The joy is in the organisation.

Christmas = Family - Your Christmas centres around family - without your family Christmas is nothing. You live for the laughter, the hugs, the conversations, children screaming with delight, the lovely food and funny games. It’s not so much about the trappings as it is about who is present.

The Stress Heads - When you look at Christmas all you feel is stress (you’re even getting stressed just reading this) thinking about how you will afford the presents, cope with the people, the long journeys, over tired children/grandchildren, potential conflict with family or the in-laws. Christmas is not so much a joy as it is a headache.

The Weary - You have been ready for a break since the summer holidays, as much as you enjoy having family around, all you want to do is sit in your favourite chair, relax, sleep, or read a good book, letting Christmas happen around you.

The Lonely - Christmas is just something you must endure, and need to get through, as you contemplate what you no longer have. It’s often tinged with pain and sadness as you know you can’t just pick up the phone, receive a hug, or have just one more Christmas with the ones you love.

When you look at that list, there may be one statement that characterises your Christmas, or you may feel that you are characterised by a mixture of two or three. We are all different, and it’s likely that we all approach Christmas in slightly different ways depending on family traditions, values, personal circumstances, and our own expectations - which are often driven by our personal experience or the culture around us.

It’s nice that we can buy presents, it’s good that we can spend time with family, decorate the tree, play silly games, and eat copious amounts of food - but is that really what Christmas has come to? Just an opportunity to spend too much and eat too much, surrounded by family and friends? That’s certainly what society would want us to believe.

Christmas, however, is about so much more… it’s about HOPE. We live in a world that can often be described as being filled with despair, anxiety, frustration, fear, and confusion. You only have to turn on the news, scroll through social media, speak to your neighbours, or just look at your own circumstances, to see that life is often full of challenges that can make us feel hopeless as we try to find our way in an often confusing world.

It’s about a HOPE that shines like a light in the darkness. We celebrate Christmas not because of an event, or a season, but because of a person, and his name is Jesus Christ.

Jesus, born miraculously over 2,000 years ago to a young virgin girl named Mary and her husband to be Joseph. Born in the most ordinary of circumstances - in a stable, placed in a feeding trough for animals - yet no ordinary child. The ‘Son of God’ (God in human form) sent to earth to be the saviour of the world, who would eventually be led to the cross to die for humanity (for you and me) and to bring HOPE to a lost world.

Isaiah 9v6-7: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

So, in the weeks to come as you contemplate whether to have that extra Yorkshire pudding, as you gaze at the present you have just received and say “really?!?”, as you decorate the tree, play games, or do whatever else your Christmas brings, may we remember what it’s really all about…The HOPE of Jesus, that brings assurance in the loudness, the busyness, the tiredness, the peace, the loneliness, or the pain and sorrow. A HOPE that is not just for Christmas but for every day of our lives.

Have a blessed Christmas everyone.

Best Wishes,

Pastor Steve.