Days until the first quizmatch: 22
Last week, I came home on Wednesday. Finals kept me so busy that I hadn't really paid attention to the days. The last final had past, and I was sitting with my roommate at lunch. I looked up at him and said, "I just realized there is only 13 days until Christmas." He replied, "Don't remind me. I haven't started Christmas shopping yet." Apparently, finals had kept me so busy that it had totally past my mind. Being halfway through December, I expected to go to a home decorated with Christmas all over. We usually had the Christmas stuff up by December 1 and I thought they probably got the tree by then. To my suprise, nothing was up. The house looked no different than when I left it in August. No tree, no stockings, no nativity, nothing. Yet despite going from a festively decorated school to a home that wasn't, it didn't phase me.
I'd like to say that I think I'm officially no longer celebrating Christmas. Well, let me be clear. I'm no longer celebrating Santamas. I'm done with Christmas Hollyday, the commercial Christmas. We did go get a tree, but it's a small one, with minimal decoration. I really didn't want to decorate the house at all. But alas, I put decorations on the tree, placed the Nativity figurines in the stable (dogmatic rebellious me had to put 5 wise men in the picture), wrote Christmas cards and baked gingerbread cookies while listening to Christmas music. Yet it all seemed unneccesary. Most of the time, I'm still playing Nintendo, writing quizzing questions, reading books on doctrine, surfed the web, and posted on my blogs. Usual stuff I do any day of the year. Life runs on as normal, and I'm not caught up in the hype the media wants me to be in about giving and receiving gifts, or in their eyes, buying and selling gifts.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm still celebrating Christ's birth in Christmas. But being a Christian, I celebrate Christ's birth, baptism, ministry, death, ressurrection and assension every day. Remembering Jesus's birth is more than just one day. It would be like only talking about Jesus dying raising from the dead only on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We don't do that! So why is it like that for Christmas? Look up Matthew and Luke chapters 1 and 2 in the summer. I guarentee you they will be there. The story of the miraculous birth of Jesus should be in your hearts all year round. (I'm not judging everyone for celebrating Christmas because Colossians tells us not to judge people on what holidays they celebrate. I'm just informing you of some personal prefences I have to get you thinking.) I hope that everyone has learned the lesson from the Grinch story: Christmas still comes even if there is no tree, decorations or presents.
But since a lot of you probably do like the excitement of the upcoming holiday, let me tell you about a favorite hymn of mine sung during this time of year. My favorite Christmas hymn is "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" This song was written by Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, but is probably more famous for the ending of "Charlie Brown Christmas". I like this song because of a certain line in the song, which can be found right in the first stanza.
Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
"For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" - Romans 5:10
"God and sinners reconciled." Powerful, isn't it? Do you know what reconciled means. Simply, it means to have a relationship reestablished by resolving any problems. The Bible only choosese to use this word 10 times, all in the New Testament, and all in the same context. Because of Jesus coming to this earth, and all that he did on earth, we are reconciled with God. I see reconciliation almost as like reuniting after a dispute or problem. That's what Jesus did. He reunited us with our Heavenly Father. Our relationship with God has been reestablished because Jesus resolved our problem of sin that separated us from the Father. We can walk and talk in God's presence because Jesus was born onto the planet the Lord created. Our salvation begins at Jesus's birth!
So in closing, I want to bring up a character usually brought up during December. His name is St. Nick. St. Nicholas was a man who lived during the 200s. Because he was a human, he was a sinner, and he died too. But seeing the good he did because of his strong faith in Jesus Christ, I would say that God was proud to see St. Nicholas at the judgment seat because he knew His servant was faithful and would be with Him in Heaven for eternal fellowship. Not only did St. Nick believe in Jesus, but he did everything Jesus commanded him too. So this Christmas season, let us not worship a man who died 1800 years ago. Let us worship the one who was born as the king, who would reconcile His people with their God. Why? Because that is what St. Nick is doing in heaven today.
