 It’s the day before Christmas Eve. A day in our house we affectionately call, “Christmas Adam.” I’ll let you piece that together! For obvious reasons, I am a fan of this day.
For most of you, I would like to think it is a day of preparation and planning. There will be cooking, cooking and more cooking. Christmas presents are getting wrapped and put under the tree. So much to do and so little time. Christmas is only two days away! What a day it will be! Nothing beats the look on my kids face as they open the presents they were given. It’s so much fun to sit around the table with family and friends as you eat the food that was prepared. As much as we would like every day to be Christmas, it just can’t be. And there can’t be a Christmas without a “Christmas Adam.” It has to start somewhere. In the same manner, the Christmas story didn’t start with an empty tomb, or even a manger. It started with a young lady willing to say yes. She said yes to going about her life with added complications. It started with a young man willing to listen and not get a divorce. It started with shepherds being diligent in the fields and wise men willing to travel day after day, week after week. We don’t often see this side of things. When you’re opening the presents you don’t see the time and money spent beforehand. When you eat the meal, you usually don’t think of the time it took to prepare it. We only see the surface, the tip of the iceberg you might say. We see the end result of something worked hard for. In Zechariah 4:10 it says, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.” God has placed a dream in your heart. He has given you passions and talents, purpose and vision. Seeing the fruition of these is similar to Christmas. It’s what we want to live in, where we desire to end up. Just like every Christmas needs a Christmas Adam, so every dream needs a small beginning. We must now and always be faithful with the little we have been given. The planning and preparing are needed. The time and money is essential. There is work to do in the here and now. It’s not always glamorous and it’s not always in the spotlight. But it is all necessary. Put in the effort. Pay it forward. Work hard in the mundane. Find the joy in the grind. If you want to see your Christmas come to pass in your life, let’s start with your Christmas Adam!
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 Full. This is a word we are going to use frequently this season! At least I am. It is the time of feasting. Last night we gathered safely for our high school Christmas party at First Assembly. We had pizza (a youth ministry staple), wings, soda, cider, and more desserts than we were able to eat. Everyone should have left full.
It is said the be the most wonderful time of the year. It’s the time for Christmas cookies, pies, fudge, more Turkey and dressing and perhaps even a holiday ham! Everyone around the table should end the day full. We don’t leave events like these or meals at this time full only in body. We also leave full in spirit. A gathering with close family and friends, at this time of the year, makes us leave full in our hearts. Even if you choose to downsize your Christmas a bit this year, you can walk away full and overflowing with joy and love. Paul, in his letter to the church in Philippi said, “there were times I had a lot and times I have had little. I have learned the secret to being content. I can do ALL things through Christ.” (My paraphrase) Let's learn that secret this year! The enemy would like to destroy everything in our lives right now. Especially these times that are meant for great joy! In John 10:10 it states that he would love to ‘steal, kill and destroy’ our lives. I’m thankful that God doesn’t leave us with that. He says that Jesus came to this earth that we might have life, and life to the...full! This is not just surviving, but rather thriving. Even during this year! Whether you are surrounded by all your loved ones or not this year, God promises that you can be full. You will have more than enough. I love that about the God we serve. He gives us what we need, and often we have something leftover. Think of the boy's lunch. It was able to feed five-thousand people, with twelve baskets to spare. When God fills us, this is what happens. We leave full and overflowing, ready to give of what we have. This is what fullness does. Like a balloon, ready to pop. What's on the inside shines through for all to see. There is a great passage of scripture in Galatians 4:4-5, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." I love this great Christmas passage. When the fullness of time had come. Think of the imagery here. Heaven, like the full balloon, is waiting in anticipation each and every day since the fall in the garden. It has grown with excitement until this moment in history. And then everything happened at once. The heavens burst open. Gabriel came with the message to Mary and Joseph. The star appeared in the sky. The angels sang like no choir had ever sung. The shepherds, full and overflowing themselves, went everywhere sharing the news of the newborn King. Mary and Joseph, in a lowly stable, deeming with pride and joy as they as they held the babe. God Himself, came down from heaven to redeem humankind! How amazing is the Christmas story?! What's even more incredible to me, is that you and I get to participate in it all. We can be made full, through Christ, to overflowing. We can partake in "the fullness of time," by allowing God to be with us and use us, no matter the situation we find ourselves in. We can be so full of the fruits of the Spirit, that everywhere we go, we are spilling over with the Love of Christ! As we fill ourselves with the great food of this great season, let's not neglect allowing God to fill us to overflowing with His Spirit as well. So all the world may know that Jesus has come, so that we may have life. And that very life to the full!  Last night my family decided to build and decorate a gingerbread house. Let me rephrase that, we decided to decorate a gingerbread house! In years past we have bought the kits that you have to put together. They usually end up a disaster. The moment you put the first candy on the roof, the whole thing collapses. It can be frustrating. You have to put more frosting on to keep it together, which only makes it looks worse. The more we tried, the more we failed! Seems like 2020! This year, we bought a pre-made kit. It’s the way to go!
I don’t know about you, but I sure hope 2021 looks a little more like the pre-made gingerbread house! But as we near Christmas and New Years, it becomes more and more real to me that everything “2020,” is not going to just disappear. There isn’t going to be a reset button pushed when the clock strikes midnight. For all intents and purposes, 2020 has almost become a curse word! It feels like Psalm 77:10, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.” I guess this is the way it is going to be. I won’t take you down memory lane, but when all this started, I saw so many saying things like, “I can’t wait for this year to be over!” I did to. And I’m sure you did as well. There can be many reasons for you to have had a difficult year. I don’t want to be dismissive of any of it. But, here we are. For better or worse the year is about to be over, but “2020” isn’t. What do we do and how do we live heading into 2021? My advice: “walk into the house.” Let me explain. You are all very familiar with the story of the prodigal son. I like to say that they are both prodigals to a certain extent. If you have not read this parable Jesus shared, you can find it starting in Luke 15:11. The quick version is that the younger demands his inheritance, and squanders it. He realizes that home wasn’t so bad. He returns and his father throws a party! The older son has been busy working in the fields. When he returns for the day, he hears commotion at the house. Instead of going in, he pulls his servant aside and asks what is going on. In verse 28 it says, “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.” I get the frustration on his end. I’ve been there. Here is the problem that I have found in my own life. If you aren’t checking your attitude as the faithful, you will become the prodigal. So why doesn’t he walk into the house? He doesn’t trust the father. And quite honestly, neither do we. Trust only comes from proximity and knowledge. Therefore, we have a warped perspective of our Father. We end up serving something or someone other than God. Let me say it this way: Is God good? Always? Is He faithful? Does He want what’s best for you? Does He always care? Does He know you? Does He know what you need? Does He love you? If you answered yes to these questions, then why not walk into the house? I’m not trying to throw guilt, but I do hope this convicts. God wants you to enjoy this time. To find the good through it. He wants you to celebrate going into 2021, and not dread it. How do we accomplish this? One of the best ways that I know how, is to finish Psalm 77. I quoted verse 10 earlier. Here is what verse 11 says, “But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.” Don’t forget all that God has done for you. Don’t forget His mercies and His grace. Don’t forget His provision and His love. Don’t forget that Jesus walked into the house. For Him it looked like a manger and a cross. Those weren’t pleasant years on earth. Now we celebrate those days and call them Christmas and Good Friday. Our bad Fridays can become Good Friday’s too. All you have to do is trust the Father as He welcomes you inside.  Now that Thanksgiving is over, let the Christmas music begin! Shame on all of you who listen early! We don’t want to overdo it and make it lose it’s magic. The reality is, there is something magical (I’m using that term lightly) about this time of year. I’m sure that is why so many start the music up early. We can’t wait for it to all begin!
Whether it’s Mariah Carey’s, All I Want For Christmas is You, or Andy Williams, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, these songs take us to a special place. For me it is a simpler time. Everything seemed brighter and tasted a bit sweeter. That is the way memories work. We tend to forget the difficult days. And if we don’t forget them, somehow they were transformed into not-so-bad days in our minds. Any song off of A Charlie Brown’s Christmas will get me nostalgic instantly. There’s just something about those piano scores mixed with Linus saying, “that’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.” I feel like our Christianity tends to operate in the same way. Everything used to be magical. I hear people say, “remember how exciting it once was?” And they aren’t wrong. Just like these Christmas songs reminding us of the wonderful yesteryears, there is something special about how our walk with Christ all began. It was fun and exciting. God did move in amazing ways. Prayer times at the altar seemed to be more special, and God’s voice seemed much clearer. It is good for us to remember and look back. We can’t live there anymore, but we certainly don’t have to forget it all. Even in the letter to the church in Ephesus, Jesus said, “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!” God is telling us to take cues from what once was so we can create new memories from what will be. This can be difficult to do. We lose heart, life happens, and 2020 hits us hard. But, in everything that happens and in all the ups and downs that we experience, let us not forget that salvation is and will always be the greatest miracle. David went through some major changes in life. Some because of circumstances and others of his own doing. He wrote Psalm 51 and asked God to restore to him the joy of salvation. At this time of year, while listening to music that brings us back to some wonderful childhood memory, we need to ask for the same thing that David did. Let’s not forget to look back to where this all started. We must remember the reason we celebrate this time of year to begin with. It all started with a baby in a manger. C. S. Lewis said, “Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.” Jesus. He is our hope and our joy. Let’s finish off what has been a crazy year, by celebrating and remembering all that Christ has done for us! |
