The Very Best Christmas Gifts

Do you remember the sweet wonder of Christmas when you were a child? The tree with all its trimmings, Grandma’s cookies, the familiar carols—and Christmas presents! I remember waking up on Christmas morning, so excited to see all the gifts beneath the tree.

Years later, I would run around town shopping for the special toys that my own children wanted for Christmas. A Cabbage Patch doll for my daughter. Lego sets for my sons.

Why spend so much effort? Because we love the special people in our lives and long to experience the joy of watching them open their gifts.

We have a Heavenly Father who loves us even more than we love our children—I know, that seems impossible! He also delights in giving us gifts. The Bible says “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights…” So, here are some very special gifts for you:

To: God’s beloved children

From: Your heavenly Father.”

JESUS

We celebrate Christmas every year remembering that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son.” What wondrous love is this, that moved God to give His Son as a helpless baby so we could become children of God?

When we see the infant Jesus in the manger, we also see the cross. Jesus came to die for our sins, so we could be reunited with our Heavenly Father. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” The gift of Christ is freely offered to each of us. All we need to do is accept it.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

 Jesus told His disciples: “Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift my Father promised…” His followers received the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and received the power to transform the world. We can do the same. Peter preached, “Repent and be baptized…and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit guides us when we need wisdom; comforts us when we grieve; opens scripture to us so we can understand God’s word; empowers us to live like Jesus; and enables us to be fruitful for His kingdom. 

And there is also a gift within this gift. The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to each of us “to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Sadly, some people never open or develop their gifts. The Apostle Paul told Timothy “Do not neglect your gift, which was given to you…”  “fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you…” All we need to do is freely accept the gift of The Holy Spirit.

These generous gifts would be more than enough, but God gives us even more.

LIFE

He gives us “the gracious gift of LIFE!” Hear these words of the psalmist as if they were spoken directly to you: “For God created your inmost being; He knit you together in your mother’s womb. . . When you were woven together in the depths of the earth, God’s eyes saw your unformed body. All the days ordained for you were written in God’s book before one of them came to be.”

Life is a gift that comes with so much joy! Yet sorrow and loss are also a part of life in a fallen world. Jesus promised, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you,” and He hasn’t! We’ve sensed His presence in difficult times. We’ve experienced His care through members of His Body as they’ve used spiritual gifts such as compassion and wisdom.

For those of us who know Christ, whether we look back at our life, or forward to the future, we have the assurance that our life has meaning and purpose. We were created for a reason. We are part of God’s redemption plan that began in Genesis when He promised a Savior, and will continue until the end of the age when “The kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever.”

Even though we can’t see how our struggles fit into His plan, we can trust His love and goodness, and “Know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

So, here we are, in this place and time in history, blessed with life from the Father. A wonderful life. A purposeful life.

And there is still more!

ETERNAL LIFE

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” We need only to accept His gracious gift of eternal life.

It’s a Christmas Tradition to not only receive gifts, but to give them in return. Yet what gift can we possibly give our Heavenly Father? The hymn writer Isaac Watts summed up my feelings the best when he wrote this:

“Were whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small.

Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all!” 

May we offer these gifts to God who has freely given us so much!

oninFaith, Life
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Immanuel

I spoke at a Christmas luncheon recently with a “White Christmas” theme, and since we were supposed to dress from the era, I borrowed a friend’s vintage mink stole and pillbox hat. It was so much fun to look back at the time period of that film, which premiered in 1954. World War II was finally over, there was peace on earth, and that boisterous generation of Baby Boomers was born. I was one of them.

When I was a girl, Christmas always meant going to church. The ladies wore hats and gloves, men wore suits and ties, and my sisters and I wore our very best dresses and patent-leather shoes. We would shine them with Vaseline and wear them beneath clumsy rubber galoshes as we walked through the snow.

The small town where I grew up had only two churches, and in those days, church attendance was normal and almost expected. We shared pews with many of our teachers, the school principal, the grocer and drug store owner – everyone we knew, it seemed. As children, we got to participate in the annual pageant, dressing up as shepherds, angels, wise men, or the coveted role of Jesus’s mother, Mary. Sadly, I was never selected to play Mary. On Christmas Eve there was a lovely candlelight service, and I remember gazing at the baby in the manger with wonder. It was such an amazing miracle—Immanuel! The God of the universe, and all of creation had come to be with us!

My parents never had much money, but my mom would open a Christmas Club account at the local bank, tucking away a small amount of money each week so she could buy presents. We always had a scrawny Christmas tree, decorated with colored balls and bubble lights shaped like little candles.  And tinsel! Remember sparkly, messy tinsel? I enjoyed it as a child but as an adult, I’m very glad it went out of style.

When I was six, I wanted a Betsy Wetsy doll. And there she was beneath the tree on Christmas morning! She came with clothes, diapers, and a little bottle that I could fill with water, and feed her from, just like a real baby. I remember being so happy as I held her in my arms and fed her. But then, true to her name—surprise!—Betsy “wetsy!” Water soaked through her diapers and onto me, just like a real baby. It was one of my first, real lessons that life is a mixture of good things and not-so-good things, joy and sorrow. Be careful what you wish for!

All the other Baby Boomers and I grew up, and many of our dreams and wishes came true. When we look back over the years, we can remember many joyful times and also some painful ones. Yet those of us who’ve walked with God all these years, can also look back and see His faithfulness and goodness. He was with us in those hard times, working all things together for our good and for His glory. Immanuel. God with us.

And that’s the gift of hope we can share with others this Christmas. Our world may be in turmoil with very little peace, but God is with us. Church attendance is no longer fashionable, and many of our loved ones no longer come to church. But the church isn’t a building. As Christ’s body, we have the opportunity to bring Immanuel to the world, becoming His hands and feet and loving heart, bringing Christ’s hope and love to the world.

Here’s a small example. A friend of mine was alone in a hospital room with a loved one who was dying. God felt very far away, and she cried out, “Where are you, God? Don’t you care?” As she wept, her cell phone began to ding with text messages—two, three, half a dozen, then a dozen, and more. Thinking someone might be trying to reach her, she picked up her phone, and saw that it wasn’t one person texting, but dozens of people, all with a similar message: “God put you on my heart today.” “I’m praying for you.” “God loves you.” Through these messages of love from Christ’s body, she experienced Immanuel. God with us.

This Christmas, as we take time to count our blessings and remember His faithfulness, let’s remember to help others find joy and hope and love, in spite of our troubled world. Because God came to us at Christmas. Immanuel is here! God is with us!

Merry Christmas!

oninFaith
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Visiting Bethlehem

The first time I visited Bethlehem more than 25 years ago, I expected to feel a sense of the beauty and simplicity of the much-loved Christmas story: a crude stable, the holy family, shepherds, wise men, and the Son of God in the manger.  I was sadly disappointed. The traditional site of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is inside the Church of the Nativity—a truly ancient church built in 565 AD.  It has survived enemy invasions, the Crusaders, restorations, renovations, a fire and an earthquake, but it looks like . . . well, a church.  A beautifully decorated and ornamented church, with all the sacred clutter that has accumulated over the centuries, but it bore no resemblance to my image of what Jesus’ birthplace was like.

But wait—the real site was down a set of stairs and inside a natural cave that has been venerated as the place of His birth since 160 AD. But even this simple cave was so gilded and bedecked with artwork and tapestries and lamps and incense burners that I still couldn’t get a sense of what it might have looked like on that first holy night. In the center of the floor was a silver-encrusted star with a hole in the middle. By putting my hand inside, I could touch the place where Jesus was born more than 2,000 years ago.  I tried it, but I left Bethlehem feeling empty, unable to make the sacred connection I had so longed for.

And isn’t that how so many of our Christmases end up feeling? In spite of all the tinsel and glitter and sparkle, all the money we spend and the stress we endure as we try to create the perfect Hallmark Christmas, we’re often left with the same let-down feeling I had inside that church in Bethlehem.  We’ve lost the simple beauty of the story, that precious connection with Jesus that is the true miracle of Bethlehem.

The year after I visited Bethlehem, I began looking for ways to recapture the simplicity of Christ’s incarnation. Santa Claus has never been invited to our family’s Christmases, and we’ve always celebrated it as Jesus’ birthday, exchanging presents because God gave us the gift of His Son.  But year after year, the clutter and glitz had draped themselves over our celebrations, just like the religious trappings that have collected inside the Church of the Nativity over the centuries.  That year, I purchased a nice but inexpensive manger set. I wanted something that wasn’t a toy, but that my children could handle and touch. We placed it at their level and at the center of our holiday, and began the simple tradition of gathering together as a family to fill the empty stable while my husband read the story from the Bible. Our children divided all the people and sheep and camels among themselves and when we got to their part in the Bible story, they added their figures to the stable.

This simple tradition has become so beloved by all of us that we still do it the same way every year, even though our children are now adults. One year, our daughter was living overseas and couldn’t make it home for the holiday but we still held our family tradition while she participated via Skype. And it’s always in those moments, with a simple stable and inexpensive plaster figures, and my precious loved ones gathered around me that I feel the holy wonder of Christmas once again—Emmanuel, God with us! May you find Him this Christmas season, too.

What Christmas traditions are special for you and your family?

oninFaith, Life, Uncategorized
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Christmas in Bethlehem

        The first time I visited Bethlehem more than 25 years ago, I expected to feel a sense of the beauty and simplicity of the much-loved Christmas story: a crude stable, the holy family, shepherds, wise men, and the Son of God in the manger.  I was sadly disappointed. The traditional site of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is inside the Church of the Nativity—a truly ancient church built in 565 AD.  It has survived enemy invasions, the Crusaders, restorations, renovations, a fire and an earthquake, but it looks like . . . well, a church.  A beautifully decorated and ornamented church, with all the sacred clutter that has accumulated over the centuries, but it bore no resemblance to my image of what Jesus’ birthplace was like.

           But wait—the real site was down a set of stairs and inside a natural cave that has been venerated as the place of His birth since 160 AD. But even this simple cave was so gilded and bedecked with artwork and tapestries and lamps and incense burners that I still couldn’t get a sense of what it might have looked like on that first holy night. In the center of the floor was a silver-encrusted star with a hole in the middle. By putting my hand inside, I could touch the place where Jesus was born more than 2,000 years ago.  I tried it, but I left Bethlehem feeling empty, unable to make the sacred connection I had so longed for.

         And isn’t that how so many of our Christmases end up feeling? In spite of all the tinsel and glitter and sparkle, all the money we spend and the stress we endure as we try to create the perfect Hallmark Christmas, we’re often left with the same let-down feeling I had inside that church in Bethlehem.  We’ve lost the simple beauty of the story, that precious connection with God that is the true miracle of Bethlehem.

The year after visiting Bethlehem, I began looking for ways to recapture the simplicity of Christ’s incarnation. Santa Claus has never been invited to our family Christmases, and we’ve always celebrated it as Jesus’ birthday, exchanging presents because God gave us the gift of His Son.  But year after year, the clutter and glitz had draped themselves over our celebrations, just like the religious trappings that have collected inside the Church of the Nativity over the centuries.  That year, I purchased a nice but inexpensive manger set. I wanted something that wasn’t a toy, but that my children could handle and touch. We placed it at their level and at the center of our holiday, and began the simple tradition of gathering together as a family to fill the empty stable while my husband read the story from the Bible. Our children divided all the people and sheep and camels among themselves and when we got to their part in the Bible story, they added their figures to the stable.

This simple tradition has become so beloved by all of us that we still do it the same way every year, even though our children are now adults. Our two married children couldn’t wait to share the tradition with their spouses, generously dividing their sheep and wise men among the newest members of our family. One year, our daughter was living overseas and couldn’t make it home for the holiday but we still held our family tradition while she participated via Skype and a web camera.

And it’s always in those moments, with this simple stable and inexpensive plaster figures and my precious loved ones gathered around me that I feel the holy wonder of Christmas once again—Emmanuel, God with us!

 

oninFaith, Life
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