Are You Ready for Christmas?

During the past several weeks we have been reminded that we are in the season of Advent – a season of preparation for Christmas.  In last week's sermon we considered the kind of preparations we need to make to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the greatest gift given to humankind.  Stores are now filled with anxious shoppers looking for gifts for persons on their lists. Gift-buying is pretty much the priority of the season, and once the gifts are bought and wrapped, one can relax a little. It is usually the people who have everything done that ask the question, “Are you ready for Christmas?” so they can brag a bit about their accomplishments.  Many of you have probably been asked that question, or even asked it of others!  It is an appropriate question to consider on this third Sunday of Advent, because the countdown is on! 

I suspect many of us still have long lists of things that need to be done before we think we are ready. The real meaning of Christmas often becomes lost in the frantic pursuits of getting everything done in time. With so much happening this time of year, it’s sometimes difficult to tell what Christmas is all about. Think about it:  Santa Claus competes with the baby Jesus, songs like "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" drown out "Silent Night", and fancy wrapped packages under a brightly lighted tree outshine the star of Bethlehem.  When we add all this   to the pressure of Christmas shopping and the constant reminder of the number of shopping days left before the magic day arrives, (as of today the number is 10), it is little wonder that many people are worn out, or turned off by Christmas.  In spite of all this confusion and competition in interpreting the reason for the season, the Christian faith helps keep the meaning and message in focus.  It reminds us to make preparations that capture the spirit of Christmas and its meaning for our lives.
 
For centuries the Christian Church has observed Advent as a time of joyous preparation for the coming of the Messiah. But what is required for people of faith to truly get ready for Christmas so that the secular observance doesn't dominate the spiritual dimension?  Most of us will do the usual things for Christmas: buy and exchange gifts, visit family and friends, perhaps attend a party or two. But if we simply do the usual things expected of us at Christmas, the true meaning of Christmas will pass us by. Let me offer several insights that might help us get ready to celebrate Christmas more fully. 
    
Let me suggest that we are not ready for Christmas until we discover the Christmas story in all its glory and claim its message for our lives. You have probably heard the traditional Christmas story from the gospel of Luke many times.  Picture with me the characters and actions involved:  an announcement that a young woman named Mary would give birth, and her son would be the Promised Messiah; a long journey to Bethlehem by Mary and Joseph who upon arrival, found all the rooms were full; the kindness of an inn keeper who offers shelter in the stable with the animals.  And that night, a baby was born in those humble surroundings; on a hillside nearby an angel proclaimed the good news not only of the baby’s birth but his identity to a group of shepherds; a bright shining star marking the place of the birth.  Luke's gospel tells the story so beautifully.  But we can never fully comprehend the Christmas story as long as we keep baby Jesus in the manger. You see, the question is not simply do you know the story, but do you know the Savior?  The Christmas story in all its glory involves more than a story – it’s a miraculous happening that when understood, transforms person’s lives. 

The glory of Christmas includes the hope of deliverance expressed through the prophet Isaiah who proclaimed: "Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold a young woman shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel ... For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!" (Isaiah 7:14)   

These words of hope shared some 700 years before Jesus' birth remind us that even then, God was concerned about his people. The entire Old Testament story is one of God's acts of deliverance and calling people to live in right relationship with him. The unfolding drama of the Bible is a love story of how much God has always cared about humanity. The Christmas story in all its glory includes God's promises through the prophets and the realization that the promises have been fulfilled in Christ. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!" (Isaiah 9:6)  It also includes understanding that the child born in a manger became the deliverer, the Christ for the world. The lifestyle of self-giving love revealed in the cross lies at the heart of the Christmas message. This message continues to challenge us today and adds to the glory of the season. We aren't ready for Christmas until we discover the Christmas story in all its glory and claim its message for our lives.   

I suggest that we aren't ready for Christmas until we discover the joy of giving, rather than receiving. Christmas has become a time for exchanging gifts. Ask almost any child about Christmas and the reply will include details about Santa Claus and a list of personal desires. Many adults look upon Christmas shopping as a burden which adds headaches, rather than joy to the season. Perhaps we need to reexamine our attitudes about Christmas giving. Perhaps we need to ask ourselves, "Has gift-giving become just a mechanical exercise because it is expected, or is it a genuine effort to express love for another?"

Many years ago, when I was Wesley Foundation director and campus minister at the College of William and Mary, we held a series of Advent prayer breakfasts for the students. During one session, we decided to adopt a needy family for Christmas – a mother and three small children, whose husband had left her several months earlier and she was trying to make ends meet as a single parent.

In preparation for our visit the students bought toys for the children, food for the family, and we put together a care package of other items, complete with a red bow on top, and took the gifts to the home. The mother answered the door and was somewhat shocked and surprised to see us standing there. We began to sing: “We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy new year.”  Tears came to her eyes as she called her children to come to see what was happening. You could see the joy in the mother’s eyes through her tears, and in the children’s smiles. When the singing stopped with her children at her side, the mother said, "It's so good to know that somebody cares. How can I ever thank you enough for making Christmas happen for us?"  

Later one of the students commented, "I grew up in a wonderful family and never wanted for anything.  I thought Christmas was about me and what I wanted and would get. But my eyes were opened through what we did for that family. For the first time in my life, I discovered what Christmas is all about. It's not about receiving, but giving."  

Finally, let me suggest that we are not ready for Christmas until we realize that Christmas is about living a lifestyle of love. It's difficult for the historic event of the birth of the Savior to touch people's lives with meaning in our modern age of computerized toys, electronic devices, and dolls that walk, talk and sing. But Christmas can touch people’s lives in transforming ways as it is demonstrated through expressions of love. Christmas continues to happen whenever there are those who believe in the Christ and who attempt to express Christ-like love. The Christmas season challenges us to transform Christmas giving into Christ-like living. Christmas calls us to practice charity, to tear down walls of hostility which separate us, to erase resentment which divides us, and to be reconciled in the name of love. For when all has been said and done, all the special activities are over, and the sounds of the season cease, Christmas will continue as long as there are those who believe in its message of love and seek to demonstrate love by the way they live.

Henry Van Dyke's classic, "Keeping Christmas", seems to sum up what we need to do to celebrate the birth of Christ:  "Are you willing to forget what you have done for others and remember what others have done for you? To ignore what the world owes you and to think of what you owe the world?  To see your fellow men as just as real as you are, and to try to took behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy? Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs of little children, to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old, to stop asking how much your friends love you and ask whether you love them enough? To bear in mind the things other people have to bear in their hearts ... Are you willing to do these things, if only for a day? If so, then you can keep Christmas.” 

To these thoughts I would only add one other:  Christmas is not a day nor a season but anytime love is expressed.  And remember this: you and I who know the Christmas story get to live its message every day.  We are not ready for Christmas until we discover that Christmas is about living a lifestyle of love.  So let me ask you, “Are you ready for Christmas?”