Christmas, the climax of Advent

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

Christmas – “For unto us a child is born…” Can you imagine what Mary was thinking that night as she cradled her newborn baby?  It had been a whirlwind of events since she first heard the angel Gabriel say, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you…Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.” On that dark, still night, she was holding her baby but instead of sitting in a palace where kings were normally born, she was laying her baby in a feed trough where the animals ate.

You might think obedience would take you on paved roads leading to the palace door instead of walking on a dusty, bumpy path leading to a barn. Yet when God asks you to do something even if it doesn’t make sense, you simply trust Him. Faith is more often found sitting on a hay bale in a stable than in a comfortable palace chair.

The advent season is a time of waiting, watching, and desiring. Christmas is the powerful climax of Advent as the waiting is over and Jesus the Messiah is celebrated. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” –Rev 11:15 (NIV)

“Advent is a season of waiting and desiring and of hope-filled longing as I invite Christ to come again into my life and into our beautiful but broken world. I pause now to listen once again to that voice from heaven saying: “I am making everything new!” –Reading from Lectio365

This was an inconceivable, incredible, amazing story of Christmas when the Creator of all the universe, who knew no beginning nor end would come into the world as a baby. On Christmas morning, Mary would sing softly to comfort his sweet cry until the day would come when he would cry out in anguish, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” On Christmas morning, Mary would gently rub the smooth, soft skin until that day came when his skin would grow strong and tough to hold the nails of sin, injustice, and rejection as he cried out “It is completed!”

In the least likely place, with the least likely couple and the least likely circumstances, a story is told of the Savior who is making everything new. Christmas is the life-changing story of a Savior who broke the chain of death to give us salvation.

Joseph and Mary’s ordinary, day-to-day life may not have changed but their world was never the same. “So when Joseph and Mary had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and become strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him.” –Luke 2:39-40

All who are weary

 All who are weak

All those who come with no words left to speak

Come let the Son wash the dust from your feet

Come into the light

All who are mourning

All who have pain.

All those who come who are burdened with shame

Come let the Son take the weight of your chains

Come into the light

Ours is the God of the lost and the broken

His is the home with doors flung wide open

Ours is the Savior who welcomes us in.

Come into the light (words from the song, Into the Light, Emmaus Rd Church, Surrey, UK)

I wish you a blessed and wonderful Christmas as you enjoy the hope and life that Jesus brings daily. Christmas, as a day on the calendar may be over, but not the life-changing coming of Jesus. The best is yet to come!

Come Lord Jesus, enter our broken world ravaged by sin, selfishness, and turning our backs on you. Forgive us. Restore us. Renew us. Only you can change the face of this brokenness to reflect the beauty of your creation again. Fall fresh on us this Christmas and each day after. Give us ears to hear you say, “I am making everything new!” Yes, come Lord Jesus come.

God is great!