Thinking aloud and facing a few home truths about Christmas …
(A Christmas Message for those who never quite get organized)

I love Christmas. Most of us do. I don't always do it well, but I still love it. Each year I vow to get Christmas right, and each year I seem to not quite do everything I had hoped. This year, maybe, things will be different. (Or maybe next year, or the year after). This year, like me, I hope you promise yourself, that even though you do not get your act together, you will find the holy amidst the ho, ho, ho. How easy for the true meaning of Christmas to be snuffed out by the whirring of the hubbub and the blur of the 'busy-ness' - most of which has little to do with the birth of Christ in a stable long ago. It's a sad and hollow experience, when wonder turns to wilt.

Albert Einstein once said that to lose one's sense of wonder is to die. I never want to lose the wonder of Christmas, and I am sure neither do any of us. So with Christmas still months away, I say to you, Reader andSeeker of wonder, that even though you may never "get your act together", thereis a way to find the holy in the chaos. It all has to do with this person we know as Jesus Christ - "the man for all seasons".

The Bible says: Seek and you will find! If you commit to seek his love, and if you pioneer a conscious effort to look, really look, for his face, you will find him. Even in the most unlikely places (and strangely on the most unlikely faces), Christ can be found. And he will restore your energy and renew your faith, even as you grumble and grind your waythrough the Christmas chores. He will put a Christmas gift in your voice that will bless others. He will honour every stumbling effort you make to find Him, and every moment given to him, in the midst of the mess and mahem.

He will not do your shopping, or decorate your tree, or bake that Christmas dinner. Neither will I. But he will help you remember why you're doing most of it … and perhaps, this may become the most wonderful and exciting Christmas you've ever experienced. Life is not picture perfect, and you may be no better organized this year than last year. I know after 59 Christmases, I'm resigned to that reality. May I leave you with 3 Christmas wishes concerning Jesus and you, for Christmas 2005:

• Perhaps this Christmas, he will empower you to recognize what doesn't need to be done, and give you the grace to let go of it.
• Perhaps this Christmas, he'll lovingly show you how to celebrate his coming in the inner most part of your heart, and in the outermost part of your life.
• Perhaps this Christmas, he will shine through you, so that those around may feel the holy presence of God in their lives, and be drawn to seek more of Him.

Reverend Ian Lord

     

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