A Joyful Christmas
Luke 2:10 KJV:
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
If my father were still living, he would be 118 years old. He was one of eight sons of a circuit riding Methodist preacher. I don’t know that it would be fair to say that he “hated” the celebration of Christmas, but I do know that he did not care for it. He thought the holiday to be pagan. I’m sure that as a couple my mom and dad would have never recognized the season with a tree and decorations had it not been for the advent of children. My mother thereafter insisted upon a modest acceptance of the holiday. My father’s heart was never in it. I did, however, enjoy one derivative boyish benefit: I had the pleasure of telling the poor innocents among my friends that the rumors that they had all heard were true: There really was no Santa Claus! I laughed. They cried. Merry Christmas!
This year, on Jacquelynne’s orders, I brought the Christmas decorations up from the basement on November 21. I did not count the totes, but there was a host of them. In addition, there were bags – many, many bags! These were mostly filled with roping. We use roping both inside and outside! What would my honored father have thought?
I am 85 years old! As I lay on the living room floor gasping and congratulating myself on a job well done, I was informed that there was now no room upstairs for the household décor displaced by the Christmas stuff. The orphaned excess must now all be moved to the basement! If I could have recovered my breath and had most of my body fluids not already been expended in sweat, I would have wept!
The holiday season has tended to spread out during the sixty-four Yule celebrations (including this year) that Jacquelynne and I have observed as man and wife. It is now a lot bigger, and it lasts a lot longer. I remember our first Christmas in our small apartment in Lansing. The entirety of our holiday decoration consisted in a single real tree with big lights and tinsel. I remember buying a green glossy paper/ plastic star (with a bulb socket in the center) to serve as a tree topper. It was 1960 that cost me 49 cents. No matter how our trees have grown in elaborateness over the years, they have all been topped with that worthy – though now badly worn – decoration. As children appeared, each one, when they had developed the capacity of speech, expressed a low opinion of It. I think that they were fearful that perhaps one of their friends might see it.
Now that our “nest” is empty, there comes a time on Christmas Eve when the house is silent – except perhaps for the subdued tones emanating from an old Andy Williams LP. A yule log glows in the fireplace. The children are long-departed – each now having a home and children of their own. We again have the place all to ourselves. Our tree is artificial now and much smaller. The old beat-up star still enjoys its’ honored place at the top.
These things all make us happy. But there is more in the scene than mere happiness. That will fade along with the temporal “things” in which it is sourced. But there is joy here as well. It is independent of any material thing. We cherish it but are acutely aware that we do not deserve it. Joy has been purchased and given to us by Another. Our joy is sourced in this Truth: The Father so loved us that He sent His only begotten son. He lived and died for us. He arose from the grave that we might also live and, with Him, enjoy a blissful, sinless eternity. This verity, and the joy that flows from it, will remain when all else is dust.
We wish you a Joyful and merry Christmas.
George Moore
Elder Emeritus
