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Christmas Traditions I have been waiting all week for the Lord to give me an article for this Christmas. It is 10:45 PM on Christmas Eve and I should have had this article out two days ago. I have waited and only now is He telling me to write. I still don't know what He will say so let's show up and discover His words for this year together, okay? We all have Christmas traditions -- some of them are wonderful, others are to be endured. For most people Christmas is both a time of joy and a time of pain all wrapped up in one package. Regardless, for most of us there is much preparing that goes into a Christmas celebration. Friends and family gather together and celebrate in various ways common to his or her culture. Many people try to make the season high holy days. Still others keep it light and fun -- "party time" if you will. In one way or another we all have tradition, even if your particular tradition is to not have traditions! Whatever your practice, take a moment and reflect upon your own Christmas traditions. As you ponder those things, I would like to begin to put Christmas into a different light - in a broader historical tradition if you will. For God's people Christmas is the culmination of four things: proclamation, anticipation, consummation and celebration. From Genesis, God proclaimed that He would restore fallen man to Himself, and the Old Testament records several thousand years of His people's history as He brings that plan to light. It is a history that proclaims in greater and greater ways that God is restoring His people unto Himself. This proclamation builds anticipation over several millennia. Imagine being promised a gift while never knowing when you will receive it. Constantly living in anticipation of that gift, they never knew when that promise will be consummated so that they could celebrate its reception. Imagine the anticipation of what that gift would look like: the hopes and dreams; the joy and despair of having to wait; the constant wondering if it will be fulfilled in their lifetime. It must have built a lot of assumptions and expectations surrounding the long-awaited Messiah's arrival. Imagine the traditional practices and beliefs that came as a result. Scripture makes this clear; He came among His own, and they knew Him not! As we reflect upon this historical tradition of Christmas, the one thing that jumps out at me is how Christ came to His people in the common and mundane, in spite of the tradition. He came in the midst of taxes and a census. He came in the midst of political upheaval and human chaos and He came in a very quiet and unassuming manner. He was easy to miss! Most people were totally unaware of His coming. Others saw but dismissed it because His arrival did not fit their traditional views and practices. They saw Him but were disappointed because He was supposed to be different. I fear that we as believers do the same thing. He is amongst us but we don't see Him because we are totally unaware. Others see, but dismiss Him because He "should" look different. How many times do we feel disappointed with our Christmases because they do not feel holy enough or special enough, like they are lacking something. Maybe our time is filled with family tension or conflict. Maybe we are disappointed because our traditions never seem to measure up and be "holy enough." Perhaps we are disappointed because it just is never as "fun" as we hope it will be. It was supposed to be different. Remember that Jesus comes amongst us in the common, the mundane, and the ordinary. Rather than trying to make Christmas something Holy, let's be reminded how it IS something Holy. God's fulfillment -- His Christmas Tradition -- is always found in the ordinary. Revelation is most often found in the place we would never expect to find it: in the midst of chaos and ordinary human events in this world. This Christmas, don't anticipate anything except the ordinary and the mundane. You might just be surprised at the Revelation of Christ that you find in the midst. After all, that is HIS tradition! Merry Christmas, my friends! Merry Christmas. And Shalom! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ó Copyright 2005 Living Covenant Ministries International. All Rights Reserved Permission is granted to use for non-commercial (free) distribution only. Please include our copyright information to prevent mis-use. Thank you. "Living Reflections" is a weekly e-mail discipleship ministry of Living Covenant Ministries International. To be added to our weekly mailing list send an e-mail to addme@livingcovenant.com To be removed send an email to removeme@livingcovenant.com You can visit our website @ http://www.livingcovenant.com LCMI - Proclaiming the One True God is Trustworthy |
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