Luke 1:26-38 (NIV)
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
During the Christmas season, my family and I always get out our favorite Christmas movies. One of our favorites is Christmas with the Kranks. It’s based on the novel by John Grisham entitled Skipping Christmas. Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis play the roles of Luther and Nora Krank. Their daughter, Blair, has decided to join the Peace Corps. She’s assigned to Peru and leaves the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Blair is Luther and Nora’s only child, so naturally, suddenly becoming empty nesters throws them into a state of empty nest syndrome.
Luther begins to calculate just how much they spend during the holiday season and comes up with their last Christmas expenses amounting to $6,132. Given that they won’t be celebrating Christmas with Blair, which neither of them is looking forward to, Luther suggests to Nora that they take the money they would have spent on Christmas and treat themselves to a ten-day Caribbean cruise instead. They simply skip Christmas. At first, Nora objects. But eventually she agrees with the condition that Luther agrees to at least donate to their local charities like they do every year.
Needless to say, from that point on, their friends and community considered them disgusting and selfish people for even considering skipping Christmas. What happens next…you’ll just have to watch the movie. It’s hilarious.
This year, the average family plans to spend about $1,000.00 just on Christmas gifts. It really all boils down to the family income and/or how many children are in the family. But how would it feel if you got to the end of Christmas and had very little to show for it? Have you ever been tempted to skip Christmas?
Shopping today looks quite different from how it used to look. Do you still go to the mall? There are only four major indoor malls here in Dallas, TX.
Photo by Igor Karimov on Unsplash
Online shopping has kinda taken over. Not so much running around from store to store. I know I don’t go to the mall anymore. I do the majority of my Christmas shopping online. There’s really only a couple of stores I actually go into for Christmas gifts.
Regardless of how we shop, sometimes Christmas is overshadowed by Christmas. Maybe it needs to be looked at unfiltered. Maybe look at how it really began.
It began with Mary, a virgin engaged to Joseph. She was a peasant, an ordinary girl. Then an angel appeared to her. Do you believe in angels? I know I do. An angel saved my daughter’s life once. So I know they exist. Has one ever appeared to you? Angels are God’s messengers. That’s why they always say, “Do not be afraid.”
My daughter went missing when she was nineteen. I won’t go into all the details, as it’s still raw for me, but one night she appeared on our doorstep. She said a man who told her he was a friend of ours brought her home. When we opened the door, there she stood. She turned to where the man had been standing before she knocked on the door, and he was gone. Angel? I believe yes.
A dear friend was in the hospital. We weren’t sure if he was going to lose his leg due to diabetes. One night, an orderly came into his room. Introduced himself and asked if he could get him anything. No, was the reply. The orderly asked if he could pray for our friend. Yes, of course, was the reply. He offered up the most beautiful prayer and then said, “All will be well with you, my son.” Then he left. When our friend asked the nurse the next morning about the orderly, she said no such person existed. Angel? I believe yes. Is there a logical explanation for these occurrences? Or do you simply see and believe? By the way, everything was well with our friend. He didn’t lose his leg.
So, the angel appeared to Mary, and naturally, she was perplexed. Then the angel told her that she was going to give birth, and the child would be the son of God. Being a virgin, she couldn’t imagine it. But the angel explained that the power of the Most High would overshadow her. Many of us completely accept this without question. Sadly, some don’t. I’m so grateful Mary accepted and Joseph loved Mary and Jesus.
Do you think you’ve ever found favor with God? Do you feel worthy of that favor? How hard is it to just accept it? It’s like being out in the open air, looking around and wondering how in the world God could love you so much he’d provide something like this for you. A Savior no less. God loves us so much that he gave us the gift of the Christ Child. Don’t miss that message in the chaos of the season.
God let Mary know that through Him, He would do something extraordinary. That her life was a part of something bigger than herself. It was what God wanted for her and not what she planned out for herself. She humbly accepted it. She saw it as a greater sense of purpose. Mary bore God’s love for the world. We need to see this and how God works in our lives. The power of faith to overcome fear. I get how very difficult that might be. We see how God’s love overshadowed Mary’s fear. It’s amazing how life can change in an instant, causing fear.
Mary was there, and she accepted it with trust and faith. She chose to trust God for whatever happened next. Reading about Mary helps us to understand that if God is in it, we should follow it.
Photo by Swastik Arora on Unsplash
Don’t come to the end of Christmas with little to show for it.
Don’t miss the message or the moment.
And that’s what I learned in Church……see ya next time!
