This year I have spent Advent in intensity. I wrote a book which I’ve dreamed about for several years, researched for many months, and crafted into fruition for over a year. Aptly called Advent Adventure: A Devotional Guide, it is intended for families to instruct their children in the prophecies and fulfillment of them, showing that God’s plan from the beginning was to send His special gift of salvation to man in the form of the Incarnate Christ, His beloved Son, Jesus.
All the hustle and bustle we’re feeling this week, with shopping, decorating, purchasing gifts, showing love to others is because of the one and only Child in a manger, in a place fit for animals, with no light, no heat, unpleasant smells, and scratchy hay. We have gotten so very far from the early message. That of light, that of peace, that of the joy of a Gift well presented, though so unexpected.
I have a collection of over 90 nativity sets. Excess, for sure. As I put them out each Christmas, I am struck by the interpretations by artists of this one night, the ultimate in changing history for all time.
What do they have in common? There is the child, the central focus. There is the adoring mother and the protective father. There are animals whose world was invaded, their sleep disturbed, their milieu filled with sounds so unusual, light to bright, and visitors who otherwise wouldn’t pay any attention to their humble abode.
Did the angels stick around that first night? Did shepherds bring the lambs there, or did they, in haste, leave all behind to “Go to Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass?” And surely, the wise men, were there indeed three?, did not arrive that first night, but rather found Jesus in a home, days, weeks, months later. But, oh, yes, there was a star, right over the place where Jesus lay.
In my collection, there are Hawaiians bringing leis and pineapples. The Magi bring bright packages. The donkey Mary made have ridden stands in the background. But one commonality, is that this Babe, The Very Son of God, is the focus, because He came to show us mortals Who God is, He is the focus of my life, and the center of worship for those who call Him Lord. For He is the greatest gift to the world ever given, and we fall in awe considering God’s mercy and grace to us.
So while Advent continues yet a few more days, in anticipation of His First and Second Coming, we again wait in reverent anticipation to see how Jesus again blesses us, new every morning, new every generation, yet eternal in His Presence with us. Emmanuel.
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