Another Christmas day has past. This was my 75th, although I don’t remember much about the first few. It is the day each year that Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus and many others celebrate holiday traditions instead. Was Jesus really born on December 25th? Most Bible scholars agree that he was probably born a few months earlier. The actual year and date of His birth is not important. How can I be so sure of that? Because if it was important to God, it would be recorded in the Bible, like the many annual festivals God established for His chosen people to celebrate each year. Please don’t get me wrong, it is good that we set aside a day each year to commemorate the greatest event in the history of the world. I just don’t think God wants us to limit that celebration to a single day, but celebrate it every day.
This year a good friend invited me to attend the candlelight service on Christmas Eve at her church. It is much smaller than CLC, but like my church it is multicultural, multigenerational and Spirit filled. She invited me because the pastor had announced that he was going to preach a special sermon he had never attempted before.
The choir and worship team were outstanding as they led us in familiar carols and hymns of the season. By the time the pastor took his place, the presence of the Holy Spirit filled the sanctuary. He told us he wasn’t going to use the account of Jesus’ birth recorded in Matthew, Mark or the most popular account in Luke. Instead, he wanted us to look at the birth of Jesus from his Father’s viewpoint by reading the first chapter of the Gospel of John. “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.” (John 1:1-5) “The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.” (John 1:9-14)
Since I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I have heard 64 annual Christmas sermons and this one was special to me. It immediately focused my attention like a laser beam on the deity of Jesus and the fact that his life did not begin, as ours did, with a fertilized embryo. He was, is and always will be the Living God. It reminded me of something C.S. Lewis wrote, “The Son of God became a man so that men could become the sons of God.”
I pray that each of you had a blessed Christmas celebration and continue to celebrate God with us (Emanuel) throughout the New Year. .