The Real Meaning of Christmas?

Well if any of you have been to church, then the answer is... yes- JESUS! But then how do we celebrate the birth of Jesus? We decorate a Christmas tree and buy Christmas presents.

Just like what my atheist friend posted on Facebook that's she's doing with her family. That gave me pause.

I wanted to go to church to 'celebrate Christmas' today. After all, it is my last Sunday of Advent. And the other Sundays I was in church, it was not a liturgical church, so we just sang ordinary praise songs about the cross. (I have to say, I get bored of liturgy rather fast, but I never understood why some denominations waited until Christmas Eve to start singing Christmas songs. There are just too many Christmas songs to fit into one Christmas Eve service!) So my friend and I tried to go to church today. We didn't go to Small Church because we decided to take a break. Enough said about that. Somebody said there was a charismatic church a couple towns over. We looked them up online and were going to check it out. I thought that was where we were headed today. My friend had just looked up churches in the nearby town and found one that said it was "Evangelical." Really what my friend is looking for is a church where people praise God with tambourines.

So we get in the car and I think I'm going to the charismatic church and she thinks she's going to an evangelical church with high hopes of tambourines. Where we ACTUALLY ended up was a Brethren church. My friend did not expect what we encountered. Nice old people. The nicest old people ever. And a choir. And, you guessed it- no tambourines! My friend's hopes were so dashed we left before they sang the first hymn. Yep, walked right out with the poor, kind old people looking at us all confused and saying as we left the building, "Leaving already?"

I didn't even get to go to a church service. No Christmas songs for me.

And that left me wondering, "What is Christmas really about, anyway?" Most people say "Being with family" (sort of like Thanksgiving). Well that sucks for those of us who aren't with family, or would rather not be with family.

Ok, so it's about showing the love of God in the gift of Jesus by giving gifts. We show generosity and the love of God by giving gifts to poor kids and to those we love. Well this year, I feel more like the Angel Tree recipient. If you were on my gift-list this year, sorry you are not getting a present.

Now I am left with no church, no Christmas songs, no gifts, and no family. And baby Jesus in the manger. What do I do with you, baby Jesus?

I was thinking about this when my friend's baby woke up. He's been awful fussy lately and we think he's starting to teethe. My poor, weary looking friend went to the cradle and I asked her if she wanted me to rock him back to sleep. Perhaps that was her Christmas gift, she looked so happy. So I rocked the baby under the vent in the bathroom (it seems to be a soothing sound) and I sang Sweet Little Jesus Boy to him. I also sang Away in a Manger.

And there was this precious little life in my arms, looking at me with drooping eyelids, and it was like he was saying to me "My life is in your hands. Please take good care of me. I need you to do everything for me. I can go to sleep once I know you will keep me safe." And so I sang, and rocked, and patted.

Sometimes when I'm on rocking duty in the rocking chair I try to see myself like I see him, except I try to see God rocking me to sleep. It's really hard to picture, as I am not actually a mom. But I try to think how much we try to give that baby everything he wants and needs. And he still cries and flails like he's desperate to know it's all going to be ok.

How in the world did God ever trust us with Himself in the flesh? His parents didn't celebrate his birth with their families. Right after his birth they became refugees in a land that represented slavery to them because the ruler of the day wanted him dead. He was brought into a world of poverty and despair. And he asked us to care for him.

Perhaps if God Himself chose to be dependent on us, I don't feel quite so bad for having to depend on others right now. Maybe I looked in the face of Christmas in my friend's baby. So maybe this year, if I don't put any ornaments on a tree, or drink hot chocolate by the fireplace while we all take turns reading the Christmas story, or if I don't even wrap one present that I went out to purchase, maybe I'll still be ok. Maybe it's enough to know that God is rocking me, His child, to sleep in His arms and that He trusts me to care for His Son.