A Crowded Christmas

Ah, the beautiful bustle of the Christmas shopping. Store promotions. Wish lists. Lights. Tinsel. Trees. Carolers. Snow. Food. Family. Love. Gifts. Parking lot gridlocks. Seemingly endless checkout lines. Crammed food courts. Screaming children. Stressed mothers. Frustrated fathers. (With the gentle strains of ♫ Silent night, holy night! Shepherds quake at the sight. Glories stream from heaven afar. Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia. Christ the Savior is born! Christ the Savior is born. ♫ playing in the background.)

We return home with armloads of gifts for others. In a frenzy, we wrap the last of the presents only to have them ripped open moments later. Then, we rush off to catch the next family gathering. Exhausted.

And here we are again. Christmas. It's not that we don't want to hear the angels singing. Yes, we need a star to follow, as the wise men did, and if you're like me, we desperately want to kneel at the manger. We truly long to adore that child wrapped in swaddling clothes, just as Mary did. And we yearn to worship with the shepherd and bring our gifts beside the magi. It's just, well...no time. 

Not much has changed. It was crowded then...even Bethlehem had no room available. Just too crowded. And it still is. "He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." (John 1:10-12) God doesn't force His way into crowded lives. He knocks. Sends an invitation. That invitation is Jesus. 

Interesting. We have time for other things. Work, friends, sports, food, sleep, TV, family, Facebook. Yet when it comes to time for the Author of Life, a few minutes is a sacrifice. No room for the very heartbeat of our existence. Maybe it's time to stop. To stop and ponder, wonder, worship, adore, bring your gift...to the nucleus of Christmas. "For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11) It's Christmas. Time to follow the star to Bethlehem. Time to leave your sheep and head to manger. Time to open the door to your inn. Stop.

As a ten year old, I participated in a Christmas Cantata, entitled Noel, Jesus is Born. A particular number impacted my young life. 

♫ No room, no room for him. No room, to let Him in. No room for Jesus in the world He made. No room. No room, for the king of kings. But room for others, and for other things. No room for Jesus in a world he made, no room. 

Room for houses, lands and pleasures, room for things that pass away. But for the one who reigns forever, there's no room today. No room, no room for Him. No room, to let Him in. No room for Jesus, in the heart He made, just for Him. 

No room for the King of Kings. Room for others and for other things. No room for Jesus in the heart He made, just for Him. He just keeps knocking, but He hears you say, "No room." ♫


I know. You're life is busy. He still is knocking. Any room?

The King Returns

Life goes on. History unfolds. World leaders come. Others go. Wars start. Peace negotiations are held. Economies thrive. Others collapse. Celebraties are made. Others head to rehab. And life goes on. A cycle which numbs our minds. Blinds our eyes from seeing eternity in the everyday numbs our hearts to treat the temporal as eternal. And life goes on. Or does it?

Sitting in Starbucks with my Eggnog Latte, I'm reminded the time of year. The trees, lights, wreaths, holiday beverages (hence, the Eggnog Latte), and special promotions vividly refresh my memory. Constantly. But are all these festivities numbing my mind to something more? 

Sure, a Child was born in Bethlehem a long time ago. Got that. Who could have known back then that history itself was about to change as an infant entered the world? Who contemplated our timeline would be divided based on this One? Who could have known that God Himself was about to become a baby with a beating heart? Who knew? Strangely enough, these questions are not rhetorical. True, most missed Him, but some were waiting. Some were watching. For some, this was no surprise.

The characters are few. Several magi, Anna the prophetess, and the devout Simeon. And then there were those who were alerted directly by God. Mary and Zachariah by Gabriel the angel. Joseph in a dream. Elizabeth indirectly through her husband. And a scruffy bunch of shepherds who had the sky break open one night with His birth announcement by rousing band of angelic hosts. His arrival into our cosmos was long-promised, yet most lost sight of it as the years drifted by, the prophets went silent, the fatigue of life set in, and the oppression of the Roman world was reality. 

Today, I suggest we make the same mistake. Yeah, our televisions are blanketed with It's a Wonderful Life and A Charlie Brown's Christmas. Our radios serenate the home with Kenny G's Christmas masterpiece or Billy Idol's Jingle Bell Rock. Yet amidst the drama of this wonderful season and the chaos of our world, we miss the Savior. No, not His birth. Not even His person, His work, or the truth of who Jesus is. Rather, are we missing the present reality? The story isn't over. We love to speak of His salvation, but we lose sight there remains a conclusion. Are we living with the same expectation of Anna who was looking for God's "redemption" (Luke 2:38) or with the promise of Simeon who was waiting for God's "Consolation" who would be "a light to bring revelation" to all peoples? (Luke 2:25,32) 

Jesus didn't come to reform a sick world, but to transform it by giving His life. First as a newborn in Bethlehem's manger. Then as a man on Calvary's cross.  He didn't come to make this world our "home." He came to bring us "home." That is why He lovingly shared with His disciples, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:1-6) 

Does God's promise seem outdated today? Have the stresses, advancements, and demands of the 21st Century made Christ's promise seem faint and surreal? Has the hectic pace of life numbed your mind from focusing on the reality of God's promise? No doubt, it felt the same way for a couple young people living in the occupied territory of Nazareth a couple thousand years ago. 

As we celebrate His birth into this world, are you eagerly considering His return to this world? Still today, most miss Him. Are you waiting? 

Interesting. His last words in Scripture read, “Yes, I am coming soon.” (Revelation 22:20) Will it be a surprise for you when the sky breaks open again, as it did on Bethlehem's hills? Are you watching?