December 24th 2024

Dear Friends, 

It was the sad reflection of a friend who is close to seeing and experiencing almost a  century of Christmases: “You know, it doesn’t even feel like Christmas anymore. Jesus  is hardly given a thought.” 

By mid November, before Advent even began, my inbox was full of advertisements for  Black Friday sales. As soon as that weekend was over, the next tidal wave was for  Christmas sales. For the last week or more, the emphasis is Boxing Day sales. To be  fair, we’ve also had a month of school Christmas concerts and choir concerts. There  has been carolling and food preparation and Advent wreaths. Tonight, there will be  Christmas Eve services and church attendance will boom. Apparently, it’s now  politically incorrect (actually, it has been for some time) to wish people a Merry  Christmas (substitute “All the best of the season” or “Happy Holidays” to be safe). 

Tonight, we commemorate the birth of our Savior — God taking on human form and  flesh — Immanuel, God with us. Some services will be simple; some will be grand. I  daresay none will be like that first Christmas. 

You see, people being people, those people were troubled by many of the same things  that trouble us today— unfair and exorbitant taxes, oppression, a lack of adequate  income, homelessness. Oh, make no mistake, words of hope were on the books, at  least the Jewish books. Those in the know, when asked, could even tell inquiring  visitors where the hoped for Messiah was to be born. But nobody was looking. Their  cares, and those of the world, overshadowed everything else. It didn’t feel like  Christmas then, either. 

Yet, God came, on time, according to plan and prophecy, to the least suspecting and  seldom respected. Ordinary, marginal people and animals enacted the first Christmas  pageant. To our knowledge, the only singing involved was angelic. The smells were  more pungent than incense or hot cider. What drew everyone was news of a special  child, a Messiah who would shepherd his people and be their true hope. 

I don’t know what Christmas looks like for you. You may be disappointed or overjoyed  at the way it turns out this year. But, frankly, that doesn’t matter very much. Christmas  is not about you. It’s about the incarnation of Jesus. In a sense, it’s not even about that  

any more, since it already happened. Christmas is about remembering so as to root our  hoping. It’s about finding true peace that surpasses comprehension in the midst of  turmoil and distraction. Christ came. Christ ascended. Christ is coming again. The  world will be made right. We will be made whole. Hallelujah! 

“No ear may hear his coming but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive him  still, the dear Christ enters in.” Have a blessed, Christ-centred Christmas! 

Blessings! 

Doug