Every year at Christmas time, the media is full of human interest stories. Many of these stories are followed by a plea for assistance to provide a meal for a family, a special toy for a child, or some other effort to insure some individuals a pleasant holiday. Then, the narrator usually ends with, “After all, that’s what Christmas is all about.” And, while all of these activities are worthwhile, and I’m certainly not suggesting we shouldn’t take part in them, none of this hits the mark of what Christmas is really all about.

Surely, one of the first Bible verses that we heard in church was John 3:16. “For God loved the world so much, he sent his only son …” Wait a minute! I have children, each one dearer to me than life. He sent his son? He loved  me so much that He sent His Son? Is that what Christmas is all about?

That’s it. Christmas is about God coming into the world as a baby. It’s about His life, His miracles and, yes, it’s about His death and resurrection. Christmas is about the Holy Spirit in our lives every day we live.

The Good News is: What Christmas is all about is available to each of us. Even if we don’t find that special gift for our child, or we are not with family we love, or we are with family that’s dysfunctional, or we eat a peanut butter sandwich for Christmas dinner.

Because Christmas in all about Love so great it is impossible to contain.

Have a blessed Christmas.

Each year we bemoan the commercialized event Christmas has become. And while it concerns us that the celebration of our Lord’s birth is used as a marketing ploy, nothing seems to change. We still dart about in a nervous frenzy in an effort to ‘get ready for Christmas.’

Are You Ready for Christmas?

Are you ready for Christmas? That’s the question we hear
‘Most everywhere we go this time of the year.

Heaven knows, I’m not ready, is the usual reply,
Why, I haven’t baked — not one single pie.

I haven’t had time to put up the tree …
Christmas just couldn’t come, were it left up to me.

I’ll decorate the house, but first I need to clean,
And find just the right spot for the new Christmas scene.

I have to bake cookies for a party at school.
I signed up last September; I must have been a fool.

I’m making a costume for my child’s Christmas play
And the dress rehearsal is — well — later today.

We’re having choir practice almost every night,
I’m invited to three parties; there’s no end in sight.

There’ll be last minute shopping; the mall’s open until ten.
Then, Christmas Eve Communion — if I can work it in.

What? You say there is more? There’s something I missed?
Well, tell me what it is. I’ll put it on the list.

My Christmas is too small?  I’ve left out a big part?
You say there’s a miracle that should happen in my heart?

Have I been too busy to celebrate His birth?
Do I really want His peace in my corner of the earth?

I’m not ready for Christmas. I’ve left one thing undone:
Preparing my heart for the gift of God’s son.

If I own His peace and love all the year through,
Then Advent is more than a list of things to do.

Are you ready for Christmas? Stop right where you are
And look for the Christ Child, the Manger, the Star.

© Dorothy Hatfield 1994

Called to Be a Dad

How did Joseph feel? One can only imagine. He must have loved Mary very much. Even though he believed she had betrayed him, he could not bring himself to disgrace her … or to allow her to be stoned for her sin. What a relief when the angel came to say Mary was a good girl after all … chosen by God, even!

The angel said, “You are to name the child Jesus, because he will save the people from their sins.” Joseph had heard the prophecy that the Messiah would come to save the people from their enemies. What was the angel talking about? Thirty years later, Jesus would tell us that sin is the enemy.

So, reassured, Joseph took Mary as his wife. Did the old women of the town count on their fingers? Did they gossip that Joseph had either acted irresponsibly or been made the fool?

If they did, I don’t think Joseph paid them any mind. His Mary was chosen. This made him love her even more. He was told to not take her as his wife until after the child was born. Not an easy thing to do. But it afforded the young couple time to establish a different kind of relationship. Their marriage was not based on Joseph pursuing the quest of every Jewish man to produce a son … and Mary doing her best to please her husband in every way. It was grounded in a common task God had given each of them to do.

And then, when Mary was due any minute, they had to travel to Bethlehem. Joseph must have delivered the child himself (no midwife is mentioned). He was frightened and Mary was brave. As most new fathers are, he was awestruck at the miracle of birth, proud of Mary and determined to never fail his family or his God.

Yes, Joseph was a very special person. He was chosen as surely as Mary was to fulfill a special place in history. Barely considered at times, yet he played an integral part in the Plan.

As each of us do. Whatever God is calling us to do is part of the Plan. Maybe we are to stand in the background, be supportive, ask no questions, make no waves, put aside our pride and take no thought of what others think of our call. And always, always trust God even when the situation seems impossible.

Background reading Matthew 1:18-25