Unwrap the Present and Believe

This is the season where most people, acknowledge “Christmas.” We are caught up in the frenzy of decorating with trees and garland and special ornaments that we’ve collected over the years and buying new ones to hang on our trees and windows and yards. It’s festive and fun and glorious…songs of Christmas, past, is sung. New songs for Christmas, present, fill the air as they are played over computers, cell phones, radios and televisions. It’s a wonderland of colored lights, mistletoe, bright colors of every shade, greens, reds, purple, pink, blue and it goes on and on. Will Christmas, future, stand the test of time?

Happy holidays replace, Merry Christmas…traditions change and the long-ago days we grew up with, as baby boomers, fade…what will our world look like forty years from now?
I ponder these things as I write this letter because in forty years a lot of us will be gone. Our children will be where the 65-year-olds are now…and our grandchildren will be in their twenties and thirties, what traditions will they hold dear? Will the earth still be spinning?

Yes, Christmas means different things to different people. To me it means that love came down to meet us and give us, hope, joy and peace. Coming through the Jewish people the ones God called his chosen. It was ordained from the beginning. It’s time to believe and rejoice even if we are all alone. Even if we don’t have a tree and all the trimmings. Even if we are broken and shattered by life’s circumstances. It’s a time to believe the story that Luke spoke of in chapter two of the Bible and understand that it is true. Here is what it says:

The Birth of Jesus

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

So, Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So, they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived. Luke 2:1-21 NIV

Now I don’t know about you but if I had been minding my own business watching my sheep doing what I’ve always done and out of nowhere these beings come out of the clouds, tell me not to be afraid, and begin singing in a heavenly choir and telling me the son of God has been born, I’d have to go investigate. That is exactly what the shepherds did…it says that after they saw the baby and Mary and Joseph, they ran to tell the good news to everyone, what they had seen and witnessed…

This is an extraordinary story…there are angels, a whole host of them singing, and shepherds in a field…and most importantly it goes on to say, that in a lowly place…no decorated tree, no fancy food or tons of presents…no regifting, no refunds or long lines…but there was a bright light, a star that shown in heaven where the tiny king lay in a manger…He was the best present anyone could ever want or need. God had given his son for you and for me…and there was a holy Christmas choir, the carolers were God’s best. Angels of heaven whose voices split the silent night with melodies that serenaded these shepherd’s and their sheep…there was a mother and an earthly dad, family, to love and nurture the child…and of all God’s creatures, he chose even animals to witness this amazing birth…and last but not least there were the shepherds from a nearby field, God honored by giving them the announcement of his own son’s birth. A privilege for them to see and to go and tell of this glorious time in history…The very first Christmas displayed by Holy birth…in a holy night…in Bethlehem…baby Jesus was born.

Do you believe? Will you believe? He’s no longer in that manger oh no, but he was born, he lived, he died, he rose from the grave, he ascended into heaven and he sits at the right hand of God…praying for you and for me! One day in Christmas future…he will return…but until then…open your heart and believe!

~Marla Shaw O’Neill, December 4, 2019