Christmas Contrasts

Such strange contrasts this year...
Heaps of snow in the UK and Europe - tropical heat here in NZ with 95% humidity!
Bumped into a friend in the mall and she spontaneously said, "I hate all this!" - meaning the shopping, the glitz, the commercialism. "It has nothing to do with the real thing," she said. So we had a conversation about what to do with this peculiar thing called Christmas.

I am currently preparing for the Christmas Day Service - my angle is all the surprises that hit the different characters in the story... and the surprise to us all that God cares so much that he sent Jesus. Does it surprise us? The lavish grace, the extreme lengths of his love...? It is so easy for us to yawn our way through the story and not be impacted. I heard a minister at the local meeting say, "What can we say that we have not said before..." Mmmm... This is why I ask the Lord each year to see something fresh in this story. And he does not fail to reveal something to get excited or moved about.

I was surpised (gobsmacked) to go to a little house party and see this woman's home festooned with about 100 Santas, many of whom sang or danced... and numerous angels and lights and cutsy toys with Christmas clothes... the whole place was packed with it all - everyone had their mouths hanging open... She should charge for a visit! There were three nativity scenes too (one quite big and beautiful) and also a Santa cover and floor mat for the toilet!!! It was truly bizzare! I came home 'Santa'd out' and feeling very sad actually.

Then in contrast - the wonderful 'Random Acts of Culture' U Tube clip of the Messiah Hallelujah Chorus being sung in a big shopping mall. It made us weep with the joy of declaring who Jesus is in the midst of hedonism and commercialism. So, so wonderful.
Talk about contrast!

When we first settled back in NZ after 16 years in Africa, we found Christmas hard to do here. It was end of a long year... we were all tired and looking forward to a long hot summer holiday - and Christmas seemed to start end of October in the shops... and it seemed hard to make it meaningful. So we decided on 3 important things to include:
1. Find a time/way for meaningful worship - which was sometimes going to a lovely choral concert like the Messiah - and sometimes doing an evening at home of reflection and readings just to focus and worship.
2. Give to the needy in some way - we have done dinners on Christmas day for the lonely, given surprise gifts of money and food to needy families we know etc.
3. Tell the real story somehow. For some years we put on a Carol Festival with the story and carols and a brief message (not a concert - or a formal 9 lessons..)- we have also visited neighbours with carols and a blessing prayer - and had a local carol evening and told the story. It seems a shame not to use this time of year to proclaim the good news.

Again this year we have aimed at these three things. The rest we can do or not do. If family are around we get together - if not we share with good friends (our chosen 'family').

Then I got a newsletter from Michelle Perry, a remarkable woman working in Sudan - read her Christmas update here and marvel with us. Please note, she has only one leg! and God uses her so powerfully. http://theunpavedroad.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/christmas2010.pdf Here is a snippet -

Jesus was born in a filthy stable to an unwed teenage mother in the back corner of an oppressed occupied land, spent His earliest years as a political refugee, grew up learning simple carpentry from his earthly father, spent His time among the forgotten and rejected and called a rag tag group of ruffians to turn the world upside down with love. He loves to use the very things we least expect and show up in places we would run from. What, beautiful Jesus, do you have planned for this storm‐tossed patch of earth and its peoples?
So Jesus, You said to ask of You (Ps 2:8). Here I am. For Christmas this year, I would like a nation. Sudan. All of it. Every tribe and language and dusty forgotten corner, every war‐torn bit of outback, each of the 3 million orphans longing for a home: I want them all. I want Your glory to cover this nation as waters the sea, to see a tidal wave of love sweep through our midst.

All I want for Christmas is.....? What? What is worthy of his love - his sacrifice?