december 10th 2024
Dear Friends,
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas – not!
Sharon and I have been graciously gifted a week in Mesa, Arizona, with dear friends. Christmas preparations are in full swing in the desert. The malls are busy. There are Christmas lights everywhere. Last night we toured the largest Christmas light display I have ever seen, and it was amazing! It was also on the grounds of the Mormon temple in Gilbert, Arizona. More about that in a moment, but I digress.
Despite all of these Christmas activities and displays, I don’t feel one bit in the Christmas mood. Even as I write this, I’m looking at flowers blooming, clear blue skies, and hummingbirds flitting from branch to branch. There is no snow, no crisp air that can take your breath away, and no slippery street to navigate carefully. The paradigm is all wrong and I’m realizing how much the paradigm affects my appropriation of the season.
John writes, “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.“ The rejected nations, referred to in Matthew 25, say to Jesus, “When did we see you…?” In Matthew 7, Jesus addresses those who did miracles in his name, who cast out demons in his name, and says, “Depart from me. I never knew you.“
It is good to be reminded, during advent, that we can miss the very thing we are waiting for because we are looking for something different or looking in the wrong direction. Christmas in the desert may look very different than Christmas in Calgary but Jesus is still at the heart of either celebration. We need to learn to see him as he comes to us, not as we want to see him or prefer to see him.
The Mormons in Gilbert do an absolutely amazing and beautiful job at portraying Christmas and beauty and light, but the Jesus they declare is not the Jesus of our bible. He is another figure, concocted by their founders, a false God who does not save, and cannot lift the burden of life from your shoulders.
As we continue in this season of waiting, remember that Jesus comes to us in ways that we don’t expect. This provides both danger and hope. The danger is that we will be taken in by false messiahs. The hope is that he can be recognized by the lowliest of people who have open and pure hearts. We need to be like Simeon and Anna, who were “looking for the redemption of Israel.“
A lack of winter as I know, it cannot change this, nor can all the beautiful lights in the world.
Blessings!
Doug