Misty Morning

Happy Little Christmas Eve! How are we all feeling? I hope the advent season has been fun for you and full – but not too full – of joyful things.

All being well, by the time you read this I’ll be up in Scotland visiting my family. After all the build up and planning, I’m always surprised by how quickly December comes upon us and then races by. At no other time of year do we spend so much time or so many WhatsApp messages planning out one, two or three days of the calendar.

It’s a lot of pressure to put on a day, or ourselves, or the people hosting. There’s always a risk that come 28th December (the limbo period) we’ll feel quite flat and maybe a bit disappointed. And if I can feel like that, how much more so my young children who haven’t seen as many Christmases come and go? Time moves more slowly from their perspective, and things look bigger from where they’re standing. It’s easier for them to get overwhelmed with excitement.

If I feel like this as a follower of Jesus, I do wonder how much more I’d feel it if I wasn’t. To go through all of the motions, all of the decorating, singing, dressing up, gift buying, gift wrapping, travelling etc. and not to have Jesus, I think the somewhat underwhelming reality of 25th December would really feel like an annual blow. Or even the most beautiful, magical, truly happy Christmas would be over too soon. Days later I’d be packing away the lights on a grey morning and hitting the sales to try to cheer myself up.

I’ve got absolutely nothing against people who love Christmas but don’t know Jesus. I just wish they could know how good it is when you’ve got something real, solid, tangible – someone incarnate – to celebrate.

At church we’ve been reading the book of Ecclesiastes. The ‘Teacher’ in the book calls everything under the sun (a world without God in the picture) ‘utterly meaningless.’ The word ‘meaningless’ is the Hebrew word ‘Hevel.’ Hevel means vapour, smoke, or breath. That’s how he describes all of the pleasures, accomplishments or possessions we can get our hands on in this life.

Without the Lord Jesus, the most beautiful Christmas market in the world or the best children’s performance or the cosiest Christmas Day with your family is fleeting, and because it’s fleeting you can’t hold onto it. It’s hevel.

If you’ve ever watch a 3D movie at the cinema, people often reach out to grab what they see in front of them – a dolphin perhaps. But it’s not there. There’s nothing tangible. And that’s fine, because we knew what we were paying for. Nobody has their hopes up.

I haven’t seen the ABBA show ABBA Voyage, with the holograms, nor do I ever want to see it. I hear it’s amazing. But we all know they’re not actually there. If you try to storm the stage and dance with Bjorn or Benny, you’ll be disappointed.

Christmas without the Lord Jesus is a clever 3D image, a hologram, a Virtual Reality illusion, which tricks people in December and leaves them dissatisfied in January. How freeing it is to have something more wonderful at the centre of Christmas than any of the festive frills we add to it. We have this wonderfully good news of great joy for all the people. We can pin all our hopes on Jesus to give us joy this week and for the rest of our lives. We can show our children a joy and a thrill far, far greater than any grotto or panto.

Not only is Jesus better than everything, but he also gives us every good thing that we enjoy over Christmas, so we can give thanks to him. This is so freeing, to lift our eyes from the gifts to give thanks to the Giver. It takes the pressure off the day, the people and the stuff. The birth of Jesus is more than enough, and anything else he gives us to celebrate with is a bonus we can thank him for.

On 28th December we can pick up our Bibles and read of a God who loves us enough to shower us with gifts. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1. He’s really real. He’s not a mist. He’s the great I AM.

So let’s party!