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Merry
Christmas! That sounds so weird to say. Could it be that time
already? Are we really only a few weeks away from celebrating
the coming of our Lord and Savior? With the weather being what
it has been, it does not feel like we will soon be singing “Away
in a Manger,” and “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” Before we know it
the presents will be open, and disappear into the closets and
the pile of things we can re-gift.
Many of you know my fondness for the TV show
“Everybody Loves Raymond.” In one episode, Ray goes and gets
his parents a toaster that is engraved with a special message
from his family to them. In their normal turn of events, Ray
finds out that his parents never even opened the box because
they had a perfectly good toaster and they returned the one he
bought them with the engraving on it. Ray was angry that his
parents did not even begin to appreciate the effort and energy
that he put into the gift for them.
In my
opinion, that is one of the biggest dangers of this time of year
and that danger comes from both sides of the coin. Either we
can get frustrated over the response from others over their
gifts or we can possibly offend with our reaction to their
gift. When I think of those things, I cannot help but wonder
how God feels about our reaction to his gift. It often seems
that we openly welcome his gift of Christ at first, but then as
time goes by that gift gets left in the closet to do nothing
more than collect dust.
But I think
in the rush and hustle of the season we forget the true nature
of God’s gift. Not only has he given us a child who reminds us
of God’s love for us, but he gives us the promise of forgiveness
and eternal life, the strength and encouragement to make it
through the toughest times of life, and the ability to see that
he loves us beyond our successes and failures.
Even though
many of our gifts that will be under the tree will be gone, used
or discarded over the next month or two, the gift of Christ will
never leave us even when we do not want it. The promise of the
Christ child is a promise that has its foundation in God’s
faithfulness, not ours. May peace and contentment bless you as
we kneel beside the one gift we have in life that will never
fail.
Peace and Blessings
Pastor Brian
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