What I Want This Christmas...

This Christmas Eve as we gather together, upholding years of family tradition, I find, amid the searching for the perfect gifts at the cheapest prices, my heart is searching for something greater.

And sure, we all say we’re celebrating Jesus’ birthday at this time of year. We read the Christmas story again even though we’ve said the words so many times I wonder if we ever stop to actually hear them. 

And yeah, we can try and find a new way to tell it, try to force life into a two thousand year old story that people listen to with glazed eyes… but I don’t think that’s what Christmas is about. 

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we should stop reading the story just because we’ve heard it a million times already, that story is OUR story, of God coming down to save us, so that we can be with Him.

It’s just that I think we’re missing something fundamental about this season. 

And I don’t think this holiday time is about reminding ourselves that He’s coming back again, this time not as a baby but as a victorious king. 

 

Don’t think that I’m saying we’re wrong on dwelling on this; it is the Christian’s hope, something to be remembered every day, not just two or three days. 

It’s just that I think if we make the focus of Christmas time about a long ago dusty past, or a distant vague future… we end up on missing out on the most important thing about Christmas. 

We’re missing out – I’m missing out – on… Immanuel. 

God with us. 

Right now. 

His presence in our hearts. In all the shopping for presents I find my heart wilting to simply be present. And when over used words – or some brand new words that try to retell the story for my entertainment – fall on ears that are hard of truly hearing, what I really long for is to hear the story that’s being told right now. 

The one that’s completely new come every Christmas. 

 

The story of God with us… God with me. And me with God. 

Through the breathtaking Christmases, the numbing Christmases and the heartbreaking Christmases.

In the crazy busy malls, Immanuel. 

In the nostalgic Christmas songs – both the ones about angels in the sky as well as the ones about kissing under the mistletoe – God with me. 

In the story that you could quote in your sleep and the Christmas services; God with us, and us with God.

 

So let’s not forget the thing we all really need this Christmas… Immanuel, God in this present moment… with us. 

That’s what the Christmas story’s all about.