Merry Christmas

No deep thoughts this week, just a moment to take time and reflect why we celebrate Christmas. It may be hard to remember as you deal with horrid weather, bad parking, overexhausted store clerks, fussy people, overstimulated children, and trying to get everything done at home.

Last night, my wife and I watched two of the Peanuts Christmas specials. The first one, older than us, was a favorite must-see when we were children every Christmas. The other, "It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown," came out in 1992, so perhaps its one of your must-see Christmas shows. The latter one has a great scene that I thinks reflects perfectly the way life truly is for many of us.

Sally and Linus are sitting in an armchair. Linus is the theologian in the Peanuts universe. He is the one that believes in the mytery of life, though he sometimes gets things a bit confused when it comes to make-believe (hence the confusion over The Great Pumpkin and Santa Clause). Sally wants Linus to tell her what the Christmas season is all about. She has kind of had it with the season and all its pressures to perform and do so much. So Linus begins launching into the birth story of Jesus as it is presented in the Gospel of Luke. But while Linus is telling the story, Sally begins to complain, talking about shopping and all the troubles of trying to keep up with the commericialism of the season.

I love that scene because here in a nutshell, Charles Schulze has illustrated our culture perfectly. The birth story of Jesus is an amazing story. Perhaps it is as familiar as a holiday special. And we can kind of hear it in the background, but we are unwilling to really listen to it unless there might be something new to hear. We hear the story. We perhaps even desire to hear and believe the possibility of hope. That gets hard to do as we worry about our own life, friendships, family, things lost, missed opportunities, etc. Or perhaps it is just stress that is added because let's face it, the noise of the commercial season has been going loud and strong since what, September?

So the lesson we learn from Peanuts is that if we take a deep breath it will let us hear that old story. Let us really pause to listen.

Let us choose carols of hope instead of commercialized Christmas songs selling a Christmas that can never exist. Let us instead celebrate the birth of Christ as a reminder that there is another way.

One last image to think about....another favorite comic strip, B.C., had a simple Christmas message one year. We see B.C. walking in the desert. Above him is this bright, outstanding star which has captured his imagination. But he is not paying attention and stumbles on a rock causing him to fall and bump his head. When he lifts his head up to look again, the star has been blurred in his vision into 3 stars that bear a striking resemblance to 3 crosses. In three little panels the cartoonist has shown us the whole point of the Christmas story. Jesus is coming to call us into a new life that is going to lead to a horrible sacrifice, but one that will change the world. It is a symbol that you are never alone and that there is a deeper, more meaningful way of living.

The message of Christmas is that in a scandalous unmarried mother's teen pregnancy, comes an intervention in human history of God's amazing grace and love, who is Jesus.

May the love of Christ bless you this Christmas season with love and grace.