So we love or hate Christmas but it comes every year without fail. Over the years my love for christmas has changed and mutated. Perhaps it's because I can no longer feel excited about all the presents I will get. Secretly I still hope that I will be blown away by them, and I do still get some good stuff (sometimes), but most years leave me nursing a healthy sense of disapointment as far as that goes.
I remember the first Christmas after I rediscovered my faith. Someone once said to me that when you get "born again" everything is new. The grass seems greener, the sun brighter, friendships more precious. We look at things, initially with a child-like wonder, seeing the creator everywhere and we see it all through grateful eyes. I cant speak for others but I know this was true for me. The same was true of my "first" Christmas.
We were singing carols around a Christmas tree and it was like I had never really heard those carols before. Some of the most phenomenal words and tunes. I was lost in the unexpected wonder of it all. I thought I'd finished being surprised by God but I was wrong. The mystery of Almighty God, as helpless as a vulnerable little baby. This is the God we worship. Not the stern God standing over us with a stick, demanding obedience. Here he revealed his heart. Without Christmas there is no cross, and in a way, the Christmas scene is a microcosm of whats to come. Jesus lies helpless, given over to human hands. This time it is hands belonging to those that love him. This time.
And in a sense, I am still unwrapping Christmas. The multi-layered wonder of it never stops growing. Where my presents have lost a lot of their wonder, the present of Christmas thrills me again and again. In these advent blogs I want to unpack it a little more. Please feel free to join me as we look again at the truth that this verse from one of my favourite carols 'O little Town Of Bethlehem' puts so beautifully.
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.
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