176 Christmas Takedown

    (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Christmas Takedown”, originally shared on December 27, 2021. It was the 176^th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

   For the world, it’s time for the Christmas Takedown. Take down the tree. Take down the decorations. Take down the lights. And put them away until next year. For Christians, it’s also time for the Christmas Takedown. But of a very different kind. Today, we’re going to find out what kind.

   There was snow in the foothills near us for Christmas. Not that we could see it. It was too cloudy.

   Mammoth Mountain got two feet of snow in 24 hours, though! The Sierra Nevadas got 10’!

   We didn’t have a white Christmas here this year, but we certainly had a wet one. We got soaked. Our eavestrough drains clogged and had to be cleaned out several times. Our yard turned to soup. We had standing water everywhere. We even had lightning and thunder on Christmas eve morning.

   That might have slowed down the de-decoration from Christmas process around us, at least inside, but not for the lack of desire.

   We saw some Advent calendars this year counting down the days of Advent until Christmas but finding ones with remotely Christian images was almost impossible. By the way, I mentioned last time that Target in San Dimas had no religious-themed Christmas cards this year, but Sally said that they had a few. They were certainly few among the whole side of the aisle, though, and hard to find, because I looked. Twice. Sally’s the finder. 😊

   Christmas is getting harder to find, just two days after Christmas Day.

   For many, Christmas ends on Christmas Day. New Year’s Day at the latest. Christmas is over, for many, when the season of commercial preparations ends and then it’s done. Really done.

   In fact, we saw businesses, including McDonald’s, mark 12 days of Christmas as a countdown to Christmas this year.

     The Christian Church, however, starts the Christmas season on Christmas Eve, and celebrates it for 12 whole days, until January 6th, the Day of the The Epiphany of Our Lord, as in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”!

   So, now we get Christmas pretty much all to ourselves.

   There’s no more holiday stress.  The long nightmare of excess and expectations is over. Now we get Christmas to ourselves and those with whom we share it. Now comes the Christmas blessing, and we open our hearts to receive it for 12 whole days.

   BTW, the cost of all 12 gifts listed in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” went up 5.7% from 2019 (because the pandemic made 2020 costs hard to calculate), to $41,205.58! You know, those exotic pets like turtle doves, geese, and French hens are expensive, increasing the most, largely because of increased labor and food costs. 😊

   Now is the Church’s time for another kind of Christmas Takedown. No, not the trees or the lights or the decorations.

   Christ is born! He was born so that he might die, and we might live forever. He took down the consequences of our sin before God. Now is the time to open your heart and receive the work of the Holy Spirit within you to:

   Take down fear. The Christmas story begins with the announcement of the Angel Gabriel to Mary. And what are the first words out of his mouth after his greetings? Look at Luke 1:28-30,

   ²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

   I’ve read that the words “Do not be afraid” or “Fear not.” or something like that appear 365 times in the Bible. One for every day of the year. Be obedient to God’s call. Let God do God’s work.

   Take down anything that draws you away from God. We’ve had enough of the commercial aspects of our cultural Christmas. Lean in to God, the Word made flesh, and live by the work of the Holy Spirit within you, as Paul writes in Philippians 4:8.

   ⁸ Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

   Take down life without being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was born in Bethlehem that you might have life that really is life in San Dimas or La Verne, or wherever you live. As Paul writes in his letter to the Romans in chapter 12, verse 2:

   ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

   Take down the life of a community that has settled for being a friendly family, or a social service agency, or a keeper of traditions, or a political action committee, that preserves the religious language but has lost the point of being a church. Christmas is a time when sentimentality or happy memories can take the place of a real encounter with the Holy. Instead, read the Christmas story from the Bible, gratefully pray, serve others in the name of Jesus, introduce people to a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, worship in awe, share your whole self with fellow believers in a Christian Community and support one another because of your common relationship with the one true living God. As Paul counsels a young pastor in 2 Timothy 3:1-5,

   3 You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. ² For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them!

   Take down trying to justify yourself before God. Jesus did that. It’s why Jesus was born. To die for us. It’s why we have a reason to celebrate Christmas. As Paul writes in Romans 5:1-2,

   5 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

    Take down the cares of this world and whatever takes you away from being who you are and who you present to a world that sees only a secular “Christmas”. As we read in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, the 3^rd chapter, the 27^th verse,

²⁷ As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

   Let your “clothes” be the first thing that people notice about you.

   Finally, take down any embarrassment at celebrating Christmas as a Christian. Be counter-cultural. Don’t take down your Christmas tree, your lights, or your decorations. Leave them up until January 6^th, the Day of The Epiphany of Our Lord, and be a witness when you are asked why or get funny looks. 😊  As Jesus said, in Matthew 5:14-15,

   ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵ No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

   These are the things to take down during Christmas.

   And what shall we take up? As Jesus says in Matthew 16:24-25

   ²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

   We are currently looking at a surge of the Omicron variant of the original COVID-19 virus. We are currently averaging 176,000 cases a day in the United States. California is actually doing better than the country as a whole, but we are still seeing a surge. Hospitals are filling up again and ER workers are becoming discouraged at the daily cases of extreme illness and death that could have been prevented by the vaccines.

   Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem were scaled back because of the virus.

   Let’s not let our celebrations be diminished in any way that matters. Christ is born to die and bring eternal life starting right now.

   Let’s take down anything that discourages us and instead live the fully abundant life that Jesus has come to give us and celebrate Him in this season of Christmas.