Christmas Message

CHRISTMAS!!!

What comes to mind when we hear that word? Frenzied shopping and creatively wrapped gifts of different shapes and sizes? Can you smell and taste that holiday food - delicious ham, baked chicken, keso de bola, fruit cake, maybe some wine? Fun-filled parties and family reunions? Trying on a special outfit while the kids enjoy the latest toys? Holding on just a bit longer to those newly-minted crisp peso bills from the year-end bonus? Those precious days of vacation and a long-awaited break from the usual routines? Santa Claus and Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer?

As a child, I looked forward to Christmas as that special time of the year for new clothes, toys, lots of food and gifts. It was also a time for family get- togethers. Even relatives from far away places spend hard-earned foreign and local currency to come home and celebrate Christmas with the rest of us. It seemed to me that the usually colder weather, all that gift-giving and eating and partying made people more friendly and happy than they usually are. I started to believe that at least once a year, at Christmas, we have the chance to forget problems and set aside grudges and let love, peace and goodwill to all men reign. Christmas became special because of all the prosperity, fun, and good cheer it connotes. So I had always been excited about Christmas.

But was this really all that Christmas is supposed to be?

There's a story told of a woman who prepared a splendid and very grand celebration for her son's first birthday. She made sure everything was there—the food, the decors and party favors, the band and musicians. The balloons were there, and there was even a magician. Indeed, it was a happy party and everyone was having a great time. Finally, someone remembered to ask where the celebrant was. They looked all over the house and their search led them to the child's bedroom where they were horrified to find the baby in his crib, all-dressed up for the party but forgotten and now suffocated to death by the coats and jackets of the guests that had been piled unknowingly on top of him.

This story strikes painfully at my heart because I realize that I'm like that mother and the other party guests - so preoccupied preparing for and partying at Christmastime but forgetting all about the celebrant. I would clean up and brighten the house with decors, put up the Christmas tree and spend much time dressing it up with tinkles, balls and bells, set aside money and weekends shopping for and preparing gifts for everybody, plan and prepare delicious foods for the traditional noche buena, delight in the Christmas carols dominating the airwaves, and invite guests over to share in the festivities.

But where was the celebrant? Lying there lifeless in his wooden manger, on display somewhere in our home but, in truth, forgotten and uninvolved in all the celebration. If I were to be honest, He wasn't really the reason for all the fuss. All the hustle and bustle of Christmas has become really just another excuse to satisfy our own pleasures, rather than celebrate with joy the Christ for whom this season is named.

We forget that this man, Jesus, born more than 2000 years ago, is not just any ordinary birthday celebrant. Jesus is the Son of God. At Christmas, we give the best gifts to those we love the most. God so loved the world (that's you and me and every other person on this earth) that He gave His best, His one and only begotten Son, Jesus, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. This gift had an enormous price tag no person on this earth could ever pay - Jesus paid for it with His own life.

Listen with your heart to the lyrics of this familiar song:

As little children, we would dream of Christmas morn
And all the gifts and toys we knew we'd find
But we never realized a baby born one blessed night
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives.

We are the reason that He gave His life
We are the reason that He suffered and died
In a world that was lost He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live..."

Jesus Christ is what Christmas is all about. When He was born over 2000 years ago, He shared in our humanity so that by His death He might free everyone from the fear of death and by His resurrection, those who believe in Him may also have new life. And that is definitely reason for celebration and rejoicing!

Christmas is certainly a season for gift-giving. Traditionally, we give gifts to those we love. Yet we love because He first loved us. We ought to be giving gifts generously because we first have received the greatest gift of all. All the expensive and fancy gifts we can think of in this world give us pleasure, but only for a moment. Want to know the best gift to give to all your loved ones? God's gift to you of eternal life in Jesus is a gift that doesn't need batteries, never fades or shrinks, never conks out, never goes out of fashion, never falls apart, and never diminishes in value. It's the one thing you can take with you everywhere, even to eternity. Afraid you don't have enough to get gifts for everyone? God's gift of eternal life can be shared and passed on to all. Whether you already have plenty or are still in want, God's gift is still the most precious you will ever receive. If we share this gift with more and more people, then surely this world will again remember the reason to celebrate Christmas.

So, I ask you again - what comes to your mind when you hear the word Christmas? CHRIST JESUS should be the only answer.

Take His gift given to you in love and by grace, enjoy it and share it with the world that desperately needs to know what Christmas is really all about. A blessed Christmas to you all!!!