Christmas in the 1970's was, to me, an example of how American Christians can draw lines between their walk of faith and their rational side. We very neatly drew a line between secular Christmas with its trees and stockings and gifts, and religious Christmas which was the sad result of misinterpretation of scriptures. I wonder now if the message we were meant to receive really was, "We don't know what day Jesus was born, but we know for sure it was NOT December 25." But that's the message I heard at church.
I see a lot of people in our fellowship embracing the religious side of Christmas now. We celebrate the birth of Jesus regardless of his actual birthday. We relish the opportunity to talk about God's arrival on earth. We relax in the knowledge that during this one season of the year, it's not totally taboo to talk about our savior. At least not yet.
In an effort to integrate secular and spiritual aspects of Christmas, we have adopted a new tradition in our family-- the Jesse Tree. Each day from Thanksgiving to Christmas, one of the children places an ornament on a small tree as I read a scripture and tell a story.
From the moment God and his son spoke the world into existence, they were preparing the mankind for Jesus' arrival. Each day we follow the story from the fall of man, to God's promises to Abraham, Judah and Jesse, to the prophets' predictions. Each day we draw a little closer to the time of his coming and each day I am reminded of how perfectly he works his plans.
Even now he's working his plans, preparing things for when he will come again.
No comments:
Post a Comment