Christmas Message for Local Paper

Merry Christmas….from one small town to another!

Apart from the poetic inklings of popular Christmas carols, we do not know exactly what size a town Bethlehem was the night Jesus was born. We do get the distinct impression that it was not a large place. (This is reinforced by the fact we read very little about Bethlehem outside of Scripture, despite its rich history.) Quite likely, it was a small town.

But when you think about it, when you are the Creator God of a limitless universe….aren’t all towns small? From Beijing to Basile, from New York to Eunice, from Rio to Mamou, they are all tiny spots on the wall map of the cosmos.

But God came there.

From the beginning of time, people have gone to great lengths in an effort to ensure that when they die they will go to heaven. But long ago, Jesus did the unthinkable. He left heaven so He could come and die!

And God comes here.

It is our smallness, coupled with God’s greatness that stands at the heart of the wonder of Christmas. It is incredible to consider that on this Christmas Day, God is aware of your life. Even as you read this newspaper, you are in His heart. Unseen by the masses, you are known by the Master.

The angel informed Mary that her child would be known as Immanuel, that is “God with us”. God could no longer be considered far off, a distant figure from history, an unrelatable force. God had come to the small places and moved in.

This Christmas, through Jesus Christ may you experience God’s nearness, may you celebrate His coming and may you be transformed by His presence.

Because God is still here!

Merry Xmas

Merry Xmas!

As Christmas greetings go, none has the ability to make a believer’s blood boil more than this one. But truth be told, it has been a while since I have seen this greeting used. The impression that I get is that was a very badly received experiment that seems to have gone away.

The origins of this experiment are not quite clear. Many have felt that it was yet another attempt to secularize the holiday. Or to put it more plainly, to take Christ out of Christmas. It is important to remember that folks have been very honest when explaining their preference for “Happy Holidays” by saying it speaks to the time of year without affirming the Christian holiday. However, I have never heard an equivalent confession concerning Merry Xmas.

As unpopular as it may be, the X in Xmas has a couple of very significant origins. First it is true that the Greek name of Christ, kristos (meaning Anointed One), was abbreviated to X. You see that in the famous Christian fish symbol which was made by combining the first letters from the Greek words Jesus Christ, God’s Son is Savior. The resulting letters (including X for Christ) spelt the word fish.

The second important faith origin is that the X also represents the cross. Bethlehem doesn’t matter nearly as much without Calvary and its cross. Without the cross, it is an amazing story, but it doesn’t really make a difference in my life today.

This one letter powerfully proclaims not only the person of Christmas but also the purpose of the Christ. Now, I don’t really know the motives of those prefer Merry Xmas, and I don’t plan on making it my greeting of choice….but for reminding me of the cross in this season, I am grateful for it.

May your journey to the manger include a glimpse of the cross this year.

Season's Greetings

Season’s Greetings!

As I think about holiday phrases, I don’t know if anyone has ever said “Season’s Greetings” to me in person. I see it on everywhere -- signs, greeting cards, newspaper ads and television announcements. But I don’t remember anyone actually ever saying it.

At some point in the past it was discovered to be a rather safe, nondenominational, multifaith holiday phrase….even if it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.

But did you know that the “original” season’s greetings seemed hardly safe. Notice the following reactions.

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him....When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear…

God sent the angel Gabriel...to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph…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 there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby…an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified…

These “season’s greetings” were powerful events. They reveal at least three things, which are still true today.

1. A greeting from God is a big deal.
2. Despite the initial fear, the greetings bring the best news ever.
3. There was an expected response from the hearer of the greeting.

Next time we see (or maybe even hear) “Season’s Greetings”, remember those words are far from harmless. It reminds us that God is up to something!

Happy Holidays!

In honor of that great Christmas tradition of complaining about chain store greetings I offer these thoughts from an old news letter article I wrote.


Happy Holidays!

I never knew that such a friendly greeting could be so controversial. I do understand some of the frustration. After all, if someone doesn’t want to celebrate Christmas then they should not worry about it and just get back to work. We are tempted to say celebrate or don’t celebrate, but don’t try to change what Christmas means.

But after further review, it wouldn’t really be such a terrible thing if the chaos of Target, Wal-mart and the mall were separated from this Sacred Season. Maybe these marketers have done for us what we should have done for ourselves long ago.

Instead of taking offense at these Merry Christmas alternatives, I would encourage you to notice that even these alternatives contain unmistakable Christian messages.

Take “happy holidays” for instance. What is really being said here is a recognition that these are Holy Days.

I could not agree more. At Christmas we celebrate that before the beginning of time God selected a specific day for His Son to enter this world, to be born of the virgin Mary. He planned the persons, the time and the place for this great event. To say the least it was a day long circled on heaven’s calendar.

And do not forget that God knows just as much about this day (today) as He did of the day Jesus was born. He knows the persons, the time and the place you are surrounded by right now. And He certainly has a plan for today!

Yes, these certainly are happy holy-days indeed! I hope someone reminds you of that today.