Discussion question
Hi family. Some of our friends' family blogs also include dialogue and discussion...and I thought I would try to stimulate some here... :)
I've been wondering what other people feel like the Lord is teaching them in this season as we prepare to celebrate his birth through the Christmas holiday...
- What do you feel the Lord is speaking to you about in regards to Christmas?
- What have you been pondering in regard to the holiday?
- How is the Christmas story impacting your life right now?
posted by Sarah @ 9:17 PM
5 Comments:
Good questions, Sarah. I'll take a wack. What's odd for me is that I feel slightly antagonistic towards Christmas the actual holiday this year and last year because it is the part of the year where my job pushes me furthest out of my comfort zone and forces me to spend a lot of time in areas where I lack energy, talent, and passion. Therefore, I am looking forward to Christmas Eve being over, which is sort of sad, I guess.
That being said, I am majorly looking forward to hanging out with the fam this year and celebrating Christmas in BH. So I guess I haven't been thinking alot about the Christmas story - but you're post has made me think about it. It sounds corny, but one thing that has struck me with fresh force is Jesus as an unborn and then newborn baby boy. I spend a lot of time interacting with my little unborn baby (he loves to kick and dance), and so I’m super keyed into him as a little person – which makes the incarnation seem that much more real and bizarre. I’m glad I don’t have to take Rachel on a donkey to Bloomfield Hills to register for the census.
In the last couple of weeks Rachel and I spent a ton of time at church sitting under a ministry called Life Action. While we had mixed feelings in total about the experience, one thing that was really cool and I think God used was this super old Baptist pastor who taught about marriage and family and parenting from the Bible every night. He had a lot of wisdom and experience and authority in this area, I thought, and his teaching was really helpful. It inspired Rachel and I to have a bunch of conversations about our marriage, parenting, what it means for the man to be the head of the wife, and for the wife to rule the household, and a bunch of other stuff. I think already we’ve seen some good fruit from this. Anyway, this is getting long. Those are a few of my thoughts. Looking forward to seeing yall.
Good thoughts, mom and Jared. I think I often spend this season a little sad for all the folks who celebrate a day without celebrating Christ. I always think that it is too bad that they don't really know, don't really comprehend Him who is the center of this celebration.
But this year is a bit different because I've been feeling that in many ways it is me who hasn't really comprehended Him. And I mean that in a good way. This last year I have - as many of us have - allowed the Lord to rework some of my foundational understandings of Christ and the Gospel. It is transforming for sure. And while I have never been more excited about Jesus before - and all that his Life is to me - I have been continually struck with how little I truly comprehend of his amazing plan of grace and Life. I am learning and seeing more, but I'm excited about how much deeper and richer Christ is to me than before.
So while I don't misunderstand the holiday in the way that many do, I am charged this year by diving into all that I have missed in truly understanding and experiencing Him.
Well, I just found out that Santa is really Grampa Goose....so I'm pretty upset. It makes me wonder if it was GG that ate those cookies we left at the fireplace.
I guess I think that Christmas can be a little sad for a few reasons as a holiday. On one hand it can be Santa-worship day. On the other hand it can be an outward religious exercise where Christians TRY to remember and celebrate something they don't normally think or care much about - Jesus, that is.
I suppose I feel that, in order for it to really be meaningful to the Lord, celebrating Jesus should be an inward, continual experience and enjoyment of His life. Not that there is anything wrong with celebrating it on a specific day...but if it stops there, then something is really wrong. Dig?
Christmas? I think it’s about anticipation and longing fulfilled—“O come, o come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel,” “Come, thou long expected Jesus.” It reminds me that I’m a stranger here, never moreso than when I see the spectacle it has become. But I admit I’m all for the consumerism (not the commercialism so much) it fosters. I think it’s a broken way to indulge the unnamable, innate need we have to give, and it’s this time of year that makes the absence of it all the rest of the year that much more striking. It shows that most people are hungry, I think.
It’s a hint of heaven and His return, when Joy and Peace and Love are real and not just the distorted reflections we make due with most days. I love this time of year and the chaos it creates, but I hate the mall parking lots.
I also like cookies.
great reflections...it's neat to see what people are pondering. jamie pointed out that i hadn't actually answered my own questions...so here's my shot.
i have been reading the Christmas story in board book version a lot lately (jordan is enjoying it along with goodnight, gorilla). it has sparked in me the idea that the baby Jesus was truly a revolution. i think at christmas time, we see all kinds of images of the baby Jesus...on cards, in nativity scenes, etc. we are numb to the idea that that baby flipped the known world on its head, and that because of him, everything for everyone changed. i don't think we often think about that when we think of the baby Jesus. the 'silent night' we sing about was anything but in the greater landscape of time & space...it was one of the most shocking, most earth-shaking,most profound nights ever (the other being the cross). and my guess is that in heaven, it wasn't silent, but loud with anticipatory rejoicing.
another thing i have been thinking about is that i like all the hoopla that goes along with how we celebrate Christmas. i like giving presents, i like snowman decorations, i like the friendliness that you find between strangers this time of year. like nathan, i also like cookies. :) i've been thinking a lot about how does this translate to Jesus. and stay with me, in some ways, it does (or at least it can). as Christians, we have the opportunity to this season to care for those less fortunate. we have the opportunity to shower the people we love with kindness. we have the opportunity to worship God with song. is this any different than any other time of the year? no, it isn't, but that shouldn't dimish the fact that we have this opportunity before us now. i am embracing that and trying to think about ways to incorporate more of the "Christmas spirit" throughout the year.
another thing that I have been thinking about is wanting to instill generosity in jordan, and contemplating ways that we can do that. again, it isn't so much about the tradition of christmas gifts as it is about sharing the most true gift we have all received. so if that means filling a shoe box for a child in guatemala thru operation christmas child, so be it. i want to show her the generosity of the God i love and teach her to love giving, too.
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