By Rich Priebbenow, Pastor at Nations Church Forest Lake
Christmas season is upon us once again! ‘The most wonderful time of the year’, as the song reminds us. Family, food, presents, summer holidays, Boxing Day test… what else beats that?
True as all this may be, Christmas can be a lot of other things too. It’s often the most stressful time of the year. And the most expensive! We often carry a sack full of expectation to deliver the goods once again in all kinds of ways – a gift-laden tree, a cracking Christmas feast, enough time with both sides of the family… It can all loom ahead as a bit of a mountain to climb, a long to-do list. Maybe you can relate.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m no Grinch. But there’s a danger in all this, of losing the gift in the wrapping. I’m reminded of a Christmas about ten years ago when one of my daughter’s unwrapped presents disappeared. The mystery was solved when we realised it had gone out to the bin in the pile of wrapping paper! Christmas can easily end up like that for us: the most wonderful part of it all lost and buried under a huge pile of wrapping.
So what’s this gift we don’t want to lose? The point so easily missed? It’s not something we need to do. It’s really the opposite. Christmas, from the start, was all about a gift from the Creator to us. Back on the first Christmas night, two thousand years ago, just outside Bethlehem, angels gave shepherds, ‘Good news that will bring great joy for all the people.’ It was good news of a Saviour, the Messiah, the promised King, born into the world. (Luke 2:10-11) It’s the gift from God to us of a Rescuer, who gave His life on the cross to pay our unpayable debt against Him, to restore relationship with Him and defeat death for all who trust in Him. This good news beats even the best of our Christmas celebrations! And this gift is free, intended for us all to receive and celebrate.
So whether your Christmas this year is a fairy tale, or more like a cracker that doesn’t go off, make sure not to lose the gift for the wrapping. Let’s not forget the Rescuer provided for us all. Like the Carol we often sing, ‘Let every heart prepare Him room.’ If you’re wondering how, why not read the old story again, or get along to a Christmas service run by one of the local churches this year?
