Tell Me Something I Don’t Know Already
How about the Christmas story?
The real meaning of Christmas becoming buried under mountains of wrapping paper is no longer a big shock. And the TV specials being the focus of our attention rather than a dirty manger in a pile of straw is hardly breaking news either. But we know it’s there.
Even if we love God we can get a bit distracted in the Christmas hype, focusing on the mandatory Tesco shop instead of the nativity service. Finding the biggest turkey can make us forget the tins for the homeless dinner and the search for the new Nintendo can seem more urgent than re-reading Matthew 2. But what if you didn’t even know the Christmas story to forget it?
This week, chatting to some young people about Christmas, they were asked,
“So what happened at Christmas?”
“Erm, didn’t Jesus die?”
I honestly thought they were having a laugh. How could the BIRTH OF GOD pass them by? But it has. We could pass the blame book about, pointing the finger at politically correct school productions featuring reindeer instead of camels. We could turn to our churches and ask what’s gone wrong. And not forgetting the best scapegoat of all, we could blame the media for commercialising the whole affair. But the blame game never has a winner.
My Grandad was doing his Christmas shopping last year in the town centre. Even though he’s been married to my Grandma for forty odd years, buying her gifts remains a yearly struggle. Needing a rest, he stopped off at Marks and Spencer for a coffee and had to sit next to an old dear, there being no other seats available. They got chatting and he said,
“All this shopping and spending. People have forgotten the real meaning of Christmas.”
“And do you know the real meaning of Christmas dear?”
“Yes. Yes I do.”
“Well praise the Lord!”
Turns out this lady knew the real meaning of Christmas. But what if she hadn’t? What if she’d had said, “What is the real meaning that everyone’s forgotten?” What would you say? Well it all started 2000 years ago in a place called Bethlehem?
This December the world will be worshipping a whole host of gods, but the humble, loving carpenter from Nazareth will remain a stranger to many.
The real meaning of Christmas becoming buried under mountains of wrapping paper is no longer a big shock. And the TV specials being the focus of our attention rather than a dirty manger in a pile of straw is hardly breaking news either. But we know it’s there.
Even if we love God we can get a bit distracted in the Christmas hype, focusing on the mandatory Tesco shop instead of the nativity service. Finding the biggest turkey can make us forget the tins for the homeless dinner and the search for the new Nintendo can seem more urgent than re-reading Matthew 2. But what if you didn’t even know the Christmas story to forget it?
This week, chatting to some young people about Christmas, they were asked,
“So what happened at Christmas?”
“Erm, didn’t Jesus die?”
I honestly thought they were having a laugh. How could the BIRTH OF GOD pass them by? But it has. We could pass the blame book about, pointing the finger at politically correct school productions featuring reindeer instead of camels. We could turn to our churches and ask what’s gone wrong. And not forgetting the best scapegoat of all, we could blame the media for commercialising the whole affair. But the blame game never has a winner.
My Grandad was doing his Christmas shopping last year in the town centre. Even though he’s been married to my Grandma for forty odd years, buying her gifts remains a yearly struggle. Needing a rest, he stopped off at Marks and Spencer for a coffee and had to sit next to an old dear, there being no other seats available. They got chatting and he said,
“All this shopping and spending. People have forgotten the real meaning of Christmas.”
“And do you know the real meaning of Christmas dear?”
“Yes. Yes I do.”
“Well praise the Lord!”
Turns out this lady knew the real meaning of Christmas. But what if she hadn’t? What if she’d had said, “What is the real meaning that everyone’s forgotten?” What would you say? Well it all started 2000 years ago in a place called Bethlehem?
This December the world will be worshipping a whole host of gods, but the humble, loving carpenter from Nazareth will remain a stranger to many.
Becci Raine
*note the picture used was the only picture of the Christmas story on the first 5 pages of google images. hmm
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