It’s Christmas Day, and tonight we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. God’s greatest gift to us didn’t come as a king demanding to be served but as a king who served in love. Throughout his life, Jesus’ actions were a human reflection of God’s unconditional love for us, and through his death he bridged the gap that our sin carved between us and heaven. On the very first Christmas, God gave us the gift of life. In turn, we have traditionally celebrated Christmas by giving gifts to the people we love.
Throughout this Advent season we’ve talked about turning Christmas, as modern society has come to define it, upside down. While we want Christmas to be about joy and peace and special memories, many of us have come to associate it with stress and disillusionment and credit card bills. So this year we made Jesus Christ our reason for the season and worshiped God fully for his inexpressible gift. We were then able to spend less because we understood that Christmas isn’t all about material goods. And through the joy of worshiping fully and the diminished stress of rejecting consumerism, we were able to free up our resources to give more of ourselves and love others with the love of Jesus Christ. The first Christmas was all about love, and its true meaning hasn’t changed. God still loves us, and Christ is still our Savior and Redeemer.
Father, we worship you for who you are and for how you loved us so much that you gave us the gift of Jesus. Help us to follow in his footsteps and give of ourselves as he gave of himself. Show us the needs of others and how we can use our abilities to love and minister to them through our time and attention. May we continue to remember the true reason why we celebrate, and may the joy and love of Christ be so visible in our lives that it leads others to life—and love—in you. Amen.
[This post was written a few years ago for use during our church’s advent wreath lighting, to accompany the Advent Conspiracy sermon series. More information about the Advent Conspiracy can be found HERE.]
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