Merry Christmas

I attended another children's Christmas pageant this month. I've lost count of how many I have seen. This one was pretty standard fare. The best part of it was our three grand kids who were in it. One an angel, one a cow (a cow?) and one wielding an axe (axe?).  When it comes to Christmas plays we can use just about anything. The three main scenes were the manger attended by the cow, a miracle with a fisherman casting, casting, casting while Jesus slept in the boat rocked by a storm, and a simple cross which we all knew represented the death of Jesus. Jesus did not make an appearance. Neither did any mention of his Jewish background. No resurrection. No sermon on the mount. Nothing about the kingdom of God. Perhaps, I was looking for too much. But, what do we want children to know of Christmas.

Christmas is not mentioned in the early church. There are only a couple of mentions of the birth of Jesus in the whole New Testament. Paul and Peter do not refer to the family background of Jesus nor do they speak of the need to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Only Luke and Matthew begin their gospels with the birth of Jesus. And they don't agree on a whole lot. Yet, we have taken their stories and mashed them into one and added some other stuff over the years such as cows.

I was raised in a Christian family but I don't remember much about church on Christmas. I know we did not go on Christmas unless it fell on Sunday. We did not make anything of advent or Christmas eve. Christmas day was a pandemonium of presents, one by one as my father handed them out and we four kids waited for each gift to be opened, proper surprise registered and then on until there were no more gifts under the tree. Usually, the best gift was saved by my Dad until last and my mother's last gift was the Biggest Surprise of all. "Oh, Larry, she said, you shouldn't have!"

Christmas is a big deal in our culture. It's Huge. At Thanksgiving we are thankful for all we have and then we wait until Christmas for more.

Now that we live in the South, our Christmas service will be a gathering outside with the Church Without Walls, a church for the homeless. There will be a traditional liturgy and our pastor will preach. There won't be any gifts unless someone brings some snacks and coffee, but we will be receiving. Like the first Christmas which was run by angels, visions and the Holy Spirit, we will be looking for Emmanuel, God with us. Hoping.