Advent 2020 (day 9 of 26)

December 7, 2020 (Monday)

 

This is day 9 of the Advent season.  Christmas is a call for repentance. What is repentance? I am so glad you asked!

 

Isaiah noted,

At night I long for you with my whole being;

    my spirit within me watches for you.

When your judgments are at work in the earth,

    those living in the world learn righteousness.

When the wicked are favored, they don’t learn righteousness;

    even among those who do right they do wrong,

    and they fail to see the Lord’s majesty. [Isaiah 26:9 – 10 CEB]

 

There seem to be two types of people: those who learn righteousness and those who do not. Sometimes “favor” or prosperity tends to blind us to what is happening. In essence we have our heads stuck up our privileged lives. This blinds us from learning. We are impoverished when we fail to see God and His majesty. It’s kind of a tragedy-comedy of errors. Even doing what we think is right, we end up corrupting what they think is good.

 

Let’s get back to the idea of Christmas being about repentance… The message of Christmas is “Emmanuel” (God with us). If God really walked the face of the earth it means something. After Peter explained this God-with-us we read, “When the crowd heard this, they were deeply troubled. They said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” [Acts 2:37 CEB]

 

Remember playing “hot potato?” We used a real potato but it can be played with a ball, or any object that can be passed. We would randomly toss it around while a timer ran. Whoever is holding the potato when the timer runs out, is out. We do this with the true meaning of Christmas.

 

We celebrate with food, family, and a variety of other fun. We give and receive gifts. We catch up with people we really don’t care about, unless it’s just Christmas. Then there are the “Christeasters” who show up for church twice a year (Christmas and Easter, get it?) After Christmas we clean up the debris, take gifts back to the store, or give them to someone else. We have our heads so stuck up our merriment we forget Jesus and what that is supposed to mean in our daily life.

 

What a waste. This causes us to waste away spiritually. Finally, this causes us to live wasted lives. But let me suggest a point of hope. If we see the pandemic as an opportunity to give careful thought to our ways. This Christmas has become “covid Christmas.” Nothing is the same. This gives you a chance to ask: What is God trying to teach me this interrupted Christmas?

 

The only path to peace comes from a right relationship with God. This relationship is made possible only in, through, and by Jesus. Then, “You (God will) keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you (God).” [Isaiah 26:3 ESV]