KEEPING WATCH FOR CHRISTMAS

Judges 1:1-2:9; Luke 21:29-22:13; Psalm 90:1-91:16; Proverbs 13:24-25

“The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said to the Israelites, “I brought you out of Egypt into this land that I swore to give your ancestors, and I said I would never break my covenant with you. For your part, you were not to make any covenants with the people living in this land; instead, you were to destroy their altars. But you disobeyed my command. Why did you do this? So now I declare that I will no longer drive out the people living in your land. They will be thorns in your sides.”

“Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear. Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware, like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. Keep alert at all times.”

“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.”

Year after year, we watch and wait for Christmas. We develop traditions. We share the usual greetings. We fall into habits. And every year, Christmas seems just a little harder to recapture. Christmas obligations pile up as families grow. Christmas opportunities seem to get squeezed and limited more as each winter passes.  All this points to a simple truth: we are working too hard at Christmas and focusing too much on the wrong things. It draws our attention away from what is truly important.

None of this is anything new. We hear it so often we have become immune. We aren’t in denial. We know our Christmas burnout is the child of our emphasis on the good rather than God’s best. We just get swept along with the momentum of the times, and before we know it, Christmas is over and we are exhausted, wondering where the spirit of Christmas was and went.

When we do not insure we have time to pay attention, it’s no wonder we miss Christmas. When we don’t follow the Lord’s path to Bethlehem and neglect to kneel at His manger before we open the presents or eat the turkey, it’s entirely possible to miss the true blessings of the season altogether. Here’s the real point, though: the more we miss of Christmas, the more often we miss it, the easier it is to give up altogether, and to simply assume Christmas just isn’t able to live up to its own hype. To put it the way Christ might, the more “ordinary” we allow Christmas to become, the more likely we are to sleep right through it in a spiritual sense. We may not even recognize when we are doing so.

This year, then, I prayed for a Christmas that would drive me to my knees. I don’t need more stuff. I don’t need the cards, tinsel or tree. What I need is Christ. I had to get out of my comfort zone to find Him, though, because Christ has a habit of only showing up in the least expected places, like a stable. So last night, the longest night of the year, I attended a memorial service for all the homeless who died in San Antonio in the last year. 45 names. Names like “Eddie.” “Rags.” And 43 others. None of them likely planned or wanted to end up where they did. They were simply victims, victims who suffered and died in almost completely obscure circumstances. It mattered not whether they were victimized by external situations or their own inner demons. What mattered was that if those who were present last night had not taken time from their own plans and insisted on breaking with tradition, most if not all of those homeless victims would have passed without recognition, respect or appreciation of any sort. For one too brief hour, about 100 people took time from their own Christmases to stand in Christ’s place. We all were blessed to serve as a tangible reminder to others that no one needs to stand alone. A blessed few found Christ standing right next to them. Some may even have learned it is just as important to be Christ for others as to find Christ for ourselves. Indeed, the two usually share a common bond. This Christmas is as good a time as any and probably better than most for those who follow Jesus to stop waiting and looking for the Spirit and start being Christ for those less fortunate.