What a magical night Christmas Eve is! The trees are in houses. The green, fresh smelling branches are decorated and lit. Those tiny rays of light cast away the darkness; reminding us that even a glimmer of Christ’s light is enough in a dark world.
The manger scenes are set up in yards. They are decorated and lit. Those tiny shepherds and iconic figures of Mary and Joseph pointing us to the real reason we are celebrating.
The baby Jesus is placed in the manger. He is decorated and lit…from the inside in most yards. This either reminds us that the true light that comes into the world, bringing life into the world is Jesus, or seeing it sadly reminds us that we need a new plastic Jesus because our old one from 1968 is beginning to look more like a little red demonized child’s toy than the savior of the world.
The Christmas songs have finally broken loose in the church, flying through the pews and around the altar. The stars shine bright and the angels join in our songs, offering their prayers to God as we cry out with familiar melodies and beautiful harmonies of thirds and fifths up the scale. There are even some harmonies of 2 1/2s up the scale that certainly would never come out of the mouths of an angel but are certainly noises of praise. Glories are everywhere, and anticipation of tomorrow morning are on the thoughts of all children.
How can you not be excited about a night like this?
When I was a young child the smell of pipe also entered the picture as my grandfather sat down getting ready for all of us to open our presents. The smell of pipe smoke raised the heart rate as our cousins dealt out the gifts to everyone. Sitting on the floor, staring at the wrapping paper in front of me, the tender stuff just waiting to be destroyed, we sat and sat and sat, waiting to discover the prize inside.
There was only one problem; my grandparent’s house was the opposite of the quick paced, frantic, fantastically joyous and beautiful Christmas season. There was nothing quick about this gift unwrapping. You could honestly wait half an hour before you might open your gift. You see, everyone had to take turns unwrapping presents. We would wait and watch the next person open their present, and that person would then say “thank you,” and then they would both start a discussion of how they thought of the present and the other would sit and talk about how they might use it and how they loved their cousin or Uncle or Aunt or whoever had given them the present. This process took well over an hour, and it was pure torture for a seven year old. I would have rather been hung by my toenails at that age; at least that would be stimulating.
Like the story of Jesus’ birth, the process made Christmas rather simple and plain. Did you notice how plain this story of Jesus’ birth really is? Read it closely, there is no iconic Inn Keeper telling the young Mary and Joseph that there is no room. There also is no stable with talking animals and swirling Angels. In fact, the first Christmas was quite the opposite of tonight’s celebration. It was a regular pregnancy, and a regular labor, in a meager place with ordinary people doing ordinary birthing things. Luke seems to be trying to tell us something about how God works. It is not a great and glorious scene. It is, rather, a simple scene with simple parents connecting closely with their new child.
Connecting closely; that is what was happening during those Christmas gift unveilings after-all. The gift givers and the gift receivers were being given the time to connect with each other through loving words. My grandparents were secretly wise. To the kid’s anxious disappointment, my grandparents knew that the gift themselves were not the important part of the tradition. Connecting with someone who loves you was the whole point.
Today, and through the rest of the Christmas season, take the time to slow down from the gloriousness of the Christmas season and take the time to connect one-on-one with Christ. “Glory to God in the highest heaven” yes, but simple time with a simple God is also very good. It is hard to be loved by someone who is held up with such high glory. But, we can easily be loved by a God who is willing to come down to be with us. Take time right now to connect closely with Christ.
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