Sometimes, I ask my students "attendance questions" where they answer the question as I take attendance. Last week, my question was about a favorite family tradition that is meaningful to them or to their family. One of my students shared that they don't put up and decorate a Christmas tree but instead, they gather cardboard boxes, and together, craft a large nativity scene.
I thought this was a beautiful reminder that Christmas is of course, about Christ and this precious family has him front and center! Growing up, my family always had a real tree that we would decorate together then at the end, someone would place the star on the top and the nativity scene at the bottom of the tree. The tree is always much larger than the nativity scene and the time and energy goes into decorating the tree and not creating a nativity scene.
I have been mulling over this sweet tradition that this student's family does and have been wondering, how am I remembering and celebrating Christ this Christmas? How am I remembering and pondering Christ's first coming with those closest to me? In conversations, what I choose to listen to (music, teaching), advent devotions, activities that bring joy and are meaningful. As I have been grieving that passing of my parents, I have also been remembering the sweet traditions that we had as a family when I was a kid. Dad always led our advent devotions (I even found the advent books this past summer!), we listened to Christmas music, mom and I made Christmas cookies, one year we made picture frames out of cardboard and cloth for our family photos. We sat around the table watching an old black and white version of The Christmas Carol. These were gifts for our grandparents and my uncle Ben still has them! We were also a part of any Christmas program or pageant at church and would recite Bible verses that we had learned for the program for our grandparents. I think my most precious memory is of dad reading the Christmas story from Luke on Christmas Eve as we sat around the living room and eagerly waited to open Christmas gifts.
This year, I am doing advent devotions that lead me to reflect on the love, hope, faith and peace that Christ's first coming gives us. My church, Neuenburg International Church, has been sharing messages surrounding advent. Yesterday, Pastor Stephen shared that fact that paradise is perfect which lies a problem for us as we are full of sin. Even one sin (we may even see it as a minor sin) gets us kicked out of paradise. He shared how God, in his abounding mercy and grace provided the sacrificial system to provide a substitute in the blood of lambs and bulls. God didn't wait for us to fix the problem, instead God himself came up with the way to bring us home to himself. He provided what was required to cleanse us.
Along with truths from Scripture, I have also received joy from gathering greenery and creating a wreath with a friend, setting up and decorating a Christmas tree while my kitty zooms around it, picking up my friend, Lisa from the airport, visiting some local Christmas markets, making Christmas cookies, planning Christmas gifts, reading and working on puzzles, and I am sure we will find more!
May God draw you nearer this Christmas season and open your heart to a deeper relationship with him. May he shine the truth of his beautiful gospel message and give you a deeper understanding and love of the sacrifice that he made in coming to earth, freely giving up his life to set us free from sin. And that this gospel message would shine out from our lives and touch those who do not yet know him as their Lord and Savior.
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