What Is Christmas?

It's only a handful of days until Christmas and everyone can feel it in the air. Bells ring at every store in town, lights and blow-ups deck the streets and red-nosed children go door to door singing about the baby in the manger. But what is Christmas about? The answer to this question may not be what you are thinking. Some say that it is about family, food and gifts. Others say it is about baby Jesus. The super spritual ones might say something like "it is when God sent his son to earth to become flesh." The truth is, all of these are right. But they are all lacking. Christmas is about more than gifts, it's more than baby Jesus! Christmas is about God's great plan to rescue us all from death and separation from him. Christmas is about the cross. We have missed this. I have missed this. I have hidden the brutally beautiful cross behind the exulted yet lowly manger. We have hidden the thorns and nails on the swaddling clothes and hay. The truth is, Christmas is about sacrifice, pain and suffering. It is about a holy heart that is yearning for restoration. It is about  his sacred obedience to leave behind the royal God-head and enter our dust and mess, our pain and tears. Christmas is not about us celebrating Jesus, it's about Jesus loving us. This is the true meaning of Christmas. 

So, my friends, let's strive to keep the truth of Christmas in the foreground this year and every day of next year. 

Merry Christmas!

Delaney