I absolutely love the Christmas season. Now for some of you, I have already alienated you from reading further because you don't share the same sentiments about this festive holiday period. We'll I'm sorry if you've aligned yourself with 'old scrooge' and I can hear you already, muttering humbug
I enjoy the season because of a number of reasons. My faith informs me that this time of year can bring out the best in people as well as the worst in humanity which Dickens so wonderfully depicted in his novel 'A Christmas Carol'. The family will batten down the hatches for a few days and watch some wonderfully sentimental films like 'It's A Wonderful Life'. We'll eat, drink and be merry and thank God for the family we have around us.
Some will drink too much and establish long running family feuds for a while and probably then have to wait until Easter to understand the message of the cross and the freedom that forgiveness brings.
Christmas is about the gift of life that God gave us in His Son, Jesus Christ and Easter is what that gift of a Son bought for us all when he voluntarily, of His own free will, paid the cost for our lack of love and tendency towards selfishness.
This year, I want to send a massive bouquet to the folks at John Lewis. They have an advert of a young boy going through the incredible frustration and impatience of waiting for Christmas day. You get the sense from the start of the advert that 'dear of him' this is just the aged old story of a child waiting for the day when he will open masses of presents and he just can't hold his excitement. The subtlety that John Lewis advertising agency has established and who I think should win an award for this well crafted advert, is that what he can't wait for is the moment when, on Christmas morning, he wakes up and rushes into Mom and Dad's bedroom with the present that he wants to GIVE them.
Not only is this a great advert with a touch of genius, but it establishes what Christmas is all about. Giving, not getting.
There is a principle that I have found in the patient journey of faith. The gift makes way for the giver and that the character of God is one of incredible generosity. God gives beauty for our ashes and he does an amazing thing through the gift of His Son. He heals the broken hearted and he prospers the human soul.
There may be trouble ahead, but with Christ in the vessel, you can smile at the storm.
