Well firstly I should probably mention that I haven't done one of these for a few months - but my justification is based on the fact that I got married only 3 and 1/2 weeks ago and that has taken a fair amount of my recent attention (which I think is a fair excuse!).
So there you go - I'm not sure that its a good habit to find oneself providing justification for such things ... but I also wanted an excuse to mention the fact that I'm married.
Did I mention I have a wife now? yes - I think I might have...
Ok so moving on!
Its a funny time of year as we head into the Christmas season. Christmas means so many different things to so many different people. Its a strange mix of the celebration of the birth of Christ, some ancient Greek and Roman pagan festivities, some sort of commercialised jolly old fat man who used to be a saint but whose clothes were rebranded by Coca Cola, and a general excuse for overindulgence in food, giving and receiving of presents (in my case, often the receiving of many mugs from various family members) followed by a bad case of rich food-itis the next day.
So what it is it all about really? I know its perhaps a bit of a cliche to write a 'reason for the season' kind of blog but hopefully it still holds some interest for you... it certainly does for me.
As someone who is endeavouring to follow Christ with my life, I guess its worth taking the time to think about why He came and what He came to do. So here's my little ramble on it:
I guess in order to think about celebrating the coming of Christ to the earth, its necessary to think about why it even happened in the first place.
The scriptures talk about a God who created a world with his words and creative power, and by the activity and motion of His Spirit. The ancient Hebrew people understood God's Spirit by the term 'ruach' which means spirit, breath or wind. They had an understanding that God's Spirit was not just an external force that existed outside of time and space, but is the very breath of God that gives life to everything He has created. In this way, God's Spirit is understood as the very life force of His creation. Without the continual extension of God's Spirit and creative intent into His creation it would cease to exist. Bear in mind that this is very different from saying that His Spirit is the same as His creation (that's an eastern kind of pantheism), but rather that His Spirit gives continual life to His creation.
As such, Gods will, purpose and intent flows into all of His creation by His Spirit at all times. At the beginning of the human story we find that God creates human beings in His own image and likeness. They are created as beings that would bear the image of God; a God of relationship, community and love. These human beings live filled with the Spirit and life-force of God flowing through them, and so we find God's will and purpose also flowing in and through them.
Sadly, these humans make a choice to set human beings on a different pathway. They decide to step outside of God's will and purpose - and in doing so they find themselves inadvertently separated from God's Spirit and from relationship with Him. Now at this point they do not die - despite a separation from God's intent and purpose...and Spirit... rather God in His continuing grace decides to continue to extend His life-force into His beautiful creation, but there is a fracture in relationship, and so also a fracture in the way things are supposed to be. We also find that the earth, which God placed under the authority of these humans, also fractures and is corrupted.
And so what we are left with is a continuing human story filled with brokenness. While the image of God still leaves its mark on us as humans, we find ourselves fractured and looking for meaning, looking for answers, looking for hope. We live in a world in which we desire something good but so often find reasons to destroy that which we hope for. It is not that there is nothing good in the world, but rather that goodness has now been corrupted. Many in the world find that instead of peace they experience war, instead of purpose they experience despair and emptiness, instead of whole relationships there are broken marriages and broken families.
Some view God as someone who stands in heaven with a bolt of lightning looking for who to strike down next, but the God of the scriptures is not that disconnected and disaffected. God is still intimately involved in his creation.
And so in the end, God did the most remarkable thing in all of human history. He was not content in being present by His Spirit, so He became present as a man. The Christmas story is a story of the God of all creation who recognises that his creation is suffering and broken. His creation is in need of restoration and hope. His creation needs to be reconciled to its creator.
So Jesus is born. And he does not come to condemn the world but to restore and reconnect. He comes to bring reconciliation, hope, peace, justice, forgiveness and love. For those who believe Christianity is a judgemental bigoted faith - I apologize for the message we have given you... in fact it is quite the contrary. It is about restoration and renewal. Jesus came to show us true and real life. And he died and rose again to defeat the power of the broken pathway that we have all found ourselves on. He does it by suffering with us and amongst us - even at our own hands... Yet his suffering was not in vain - rather in it we find a God who suffers for us so that the corruption of our very selves may be healed. We are invited into a new journey to be restored to the kind of people God always knew we could be.
So this Christmas... let us take the time to remember why it is that people are stopping all over the world to sing, to be together, to love each other and to provide for each other. And let us take the time to remember all of those who are not able to do so yet... those for whom the restoring power of Christ and His Spirit needs to come. And let us remember the part we have to play in bringing reconciliation to God's creation.
Merry Christmas.
