Celebration

We celebrate in so many ways but Christmas is a special time to celebrate. It’s the celebration of the arrival of Jesus to this earth. Usually when we celebrate the birth of a new baby we look forward to watching them grow into a toddler, child, teenager and adult. To borrow from this morning’s sermon when we celebrate the arrival of Jesus we are actually celebrating the shrinking of God. God confined himself to the human body, to walk on the earth that had been messed up by sin, to confront all the temptations that abound our lives, to feel sorrow, lose friends, have people spit on Him, bully Him, ignore Him, then to be nailed to a cross and die just so man could have eternal life with Him in Heaven.

I would contend that the Queen wasn’t born in June, yet here in Australia we celebrate her birthday during that month. Now I realise that not every country celebrates the Queen’s birthday, but that doesn’t change the fact that she exists or the date she was born which I sure she celebrates quietly at home with the family. Not even my children always get to celebrate their birthday on the actual date.

The arrival of Christ into our world changed many things and when He returns history will change completely. Some people say that because we have no instructions to recall His birth in the same way as the last supper, we should not celebrate Christmas. If this was the way of God it would make Him to be a very stern, unhappy miserable God but He is a God of Love, Joy and Peace. I think that He knew that we would use his birth as a good reason to have a celebration without His specific instructions.