This is our third and final message in
our series on the true meaning of Christmas. We began by talking about hope and
peace, and today we are going to talk about joy as the true meaning of
Christmas. Now, for many people, Christmas is not really a time for joy.
Instead, Christmas is a time for stress, gaining weight, standing in line for
45 minutes to buy a toy that will break 5 minutes after your child unwraps it,
driving through sleet and snow to see relatives that you haven’t seen since
last Christmas, giving those same relatives something that the relatives on the
other side of the family gave you last year that you didn’t really want, but
goes perfectly in this $10 gift exchange. You get the idea. We somehow have
found a way, even though we live in the most affluent society in the world, we
have found a way to make the most wonderful time of the year and the most
wonderful celebration of the year something to dread. We have sucked all of the
joy out of Christmas.
You know, I was thinking about this
the other day as I was out driving around, picking up Christmas presents and
food and stuff. There is a fine line between tradition…and insanity. Does
anyone know the definition of insanity? Repeating the same action over and over
expecting a different result. Right? Well how many of you have a holiday
tradition that looks something like this: cramming 40 people who haven’t spoken
in a year in a 1 story ranch home that has enough parking for 2 small cars,
putting out a table of cheese and Ritz crackers, and having a white elephant
gift exchange. Kids are crying, grandpas are snoring on the couch, Aunt Ruthie
isn’t speaking to Aunt Suzie because she said that her green bean casserole was
dry, a two year old is knocking all of grandma’s glass trinkets off the shelves
and dropping them down the register.
You’ve all been there, right? You’ve all experienced this? It isn’t just
my family?
And you get done and everyone is
exhausted and cranky and grandma pipes up and says, “Who is hosting next year?”
What?! You want to do this AGAIN?? Are you kidding me? I say next year we skip
right from Thanksgiving to Easter.
Somehow we manage to suck all of the
joy right out of Christmas, but let me tell you, Christmas really is about joy.
We have got to remember that. I want to read something for you. This is The Book of God, by Walter Wangerin. It
is the Bible written as a novel, and I want to read for you his interpretation
of
Read
pg. 581-582.
You want to talk about joy? I love
Mary’s words here, “Things are changing. I can’t help it anymore. My spirit is
rejoicing in God my Savior!”
Mary’s first reaction to what was
happening in and through her was joy. You know, the cool thing about joy is
that you don’t just have joy for the sake of having joy. There is always a
reason for joy. You can be happy just because you are a happy kind of person,
but joy comes from something. And for Mary that joy came not just from having a
baby, but for what God was doing. She said, God is changing things. In the
Bible you have in your pew, it says that Mary said, “My soul magnifies the
Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For He has looked with favor on
the lowliness of his servant, and all generations will call me blessed, for the
Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”
But I think Walter Wangerin sums up
what she is saying really well when she says, “Things are changing. God is
turning the whole world upside down. The world will not be the same tomorrow!”
Isn’t that what gives us joy at
Christmas? Our joy is not just because Jesus was born, but because of what
Jesus would do for us! Through Christ, things will change. The world will be
turned upside down. And Christ is continuing to turn the world upside down. His
work in this world isn’t finished. So this Christmas, we have joy. Not just
because Christ was born, but because through Christ, God’s promises are being
fulfilled. God is smiling upon the oppressed. The world is changing. And so…we
have joy.
This Christmas…as you go out and you
have your family gatherings or traveling or whatever you are doing, when you
feel yourself getting stressed, try to remember this: the true meaning of
Christmas is joy…the joy that comes from a child who would change the world.
The child through whom God would turn the world upside down. Amen.
Van Buren United
Pastor Dan Metzger