12/5/12- Shiny Christmas

Wednesday- December 5

Isaiah 55:2-3 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food, ³Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

Shiny Christmas

Sometimes the glitz and glamor of our commercialized Christmas celebrations can both attract and repel me.  It is all so shiny and bright, so sparkling and beguiling. As beautiful as a mall Christmas scene can be, it is so far away from the squalor of the first Christmas.  A scared peasant girl recently married and obviously too pregnant gives birth in a stable surrounded by animals in an occupied country. It is a scene of scarcity, poverty, and desperation.  And yet here in this unlike place are beauty and treasure beyond our imaginings! Here is the miracle of the Incarnation – God with us – Emmanuel – not us at our best, but at our worst.  God’s love sees us at our most unlovable and feels only compassion and mercy for us in our pitiful state. The baby in the manger is Living Water and the Bread of Life. He is the Crucified King who conquers death and everything that brings us misery!  This Christmas let us pass a bit on the glitz and glamor and instead delight in the rich food and abundant treasures of the Lord!

Prayer: Lord, in the glitzy and tacky world, help me to keep my eyes on what is pure and good.

Application: Pick one day during advent in which you will refrain from the crowds, the traffic, and even from TV.
In its place, take 30 minutes on that day to do something to restore your soul: read a good book (Isaiah’s prophecies are good starts). 

Infant holy, infant lowly, for His bed a cattle stall;
Oxen lowing, Little knowing Christ the babe is Lord of all.
Swift are winging angels singing, noels ringing, tidings bringing.
Christ the babe is Lord of all. (PH #37- Polish Carol translated 1925)