Pritchard - The ABCs of Christmas

Have you ever tried to explain the real meaning of Christmas to a child? It isn't easy. There is so much tradition mixed up with spiritual truth that it's sometimes hard to tell Jesus from Santa Claus and the Wise Men from the snowmen.

Sometimes our children have a hard time understanding what it all means. The first frame of a newspaper cartoon shows a mother reading the Christmas story to her young son. The lad has a puzzled look on his face as he sorts it all out. Then he thinks to himself, "Let me see if I've got this straight... Christmas is baby Jesus' birthday, but I get the presents?" The final frame shows him with a satisfied grin as he says to himself, "Is this a great religion or what?!"

I suppose thats how a lot of people think about Christmas.

When our oldest son had just turned two, we bought him the "Christmas ABC Book." We kept it for many years until the binding fell apart. Each letter of the alphabet connects with the biblical story in a little rhyme. For instance,

A means Angel... An Angel was the first to tell

That Christ had come on earth to dwell.

D means Donkey... A Donkey followed Joseph's track

And carried Mary on his back.

(That's okay, even though the Bible doesn't mention a donkey. It is quite possible that Mary did indeed ride a donkey since she was in the late stages of her pregnancy.)

It's good for children to know the ABCs of Christmas. Even more, it's good for all of us to see through the tinsel and fantasy to the great story of Bethlehem.

Thats what were going to do during this Advent journey. Were going to let each letter of the alphabet teach us something important about the Christmas story. Along the way well meet the Wise Men, the shepherds, and a bad king named Herod. Well also meet Joseph and Mary. Best of all, well meet the One whose birthday we celebrate.

I invite you to journey with us through the Christmas Alphabet as we prepare for the coming of Christ. Lets start with the letter A...

Angels

Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God (Luke 2:13).

Suddenly!

It means without warning or prior announcement. One moment the angels werent there, and then they were everywhere. Let me amend that last statement a bit. The word suddenly means that the angels were nowhere to be seen, and all at once they filled the sky. Some questions come to mind at this point. If we had been there, would we have seen the angels? Could the people in Bethlehem see the angels? Could they be seen in Jerusalemeight miles away? Could the sound of their voices be heard in other places, or did the angels reveal themselves only to the shepherds? We cannot fully answer these questions, but this much is certain: The angels were really there, and the shepherds really did hear them.

It is impossible to miss the supernatural element in the birth of Jesus. Angels pop up all over the Christmas story. An angel tells Mary she will give birth to Jesus. An angel tells Joseph to call his name Jesus. An angel warns Mary and Joseph to flee to Egypt. An angel tells them when its safe to return to Israel. An angel announces the birth of Christ to the shepherds, and then the angelic choir serenades them.

But thats not all. You have the mysterious star that led the Wise Men from some distant land all the way to Bethlehem to the very house where they found the baby Jesus. And the Wise Men were warned in a dream not to return to Herod but to go home another way. So there you have itangels and stars and dreams. Supernatural stuff everywhere.

We believe something absolutely amazing.

Many miracles surround Christmasthe angels, the star, the dreams, the prophecies, and most of all, the virgin birth. But those miracles are just signs pointing to the greatest miracle of all: That we who live in this world have been visited by Someone from the other world. Someone from the world of light came to the world of darkness. Someone from the eternal came to the temporary. Someone from heaven came to live with us on earth.

The angels bring good news of great joy, the best news the world has ever heard.

There are more miracles to come on this Advent journey.

Lets pray for faith to believe all over again as we get ready for Christmas this year.

Lord, as we begin this Advent journey, open our hearts so that we will believe in Christmas all over again. Amen.

Bethlehem

Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David (Luke 2:4).

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.

Its a perfect description.

A more out-of-the-way town could hardly be found in Judea. Bethlehem had only one claim to fame. A thousand years earlier David had been born there. His father Jesse lived there. He had been a shepherd on the hills outside the village. If there had been a Chamber of Commerce, they would have put up a billboard: Welcome to BethlehemHome of King David. But they didnt have to do that, because all the Jews knew that a prophet named Micah had predicted that the Messiah would one day be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).

Its not a likely place for the birth of the Son of God.

We would probably choose Rome or Athens.

That would make more sense.

But God chose an out-of-the-way village in a forgotten corner of the Roman Empire.

Thats where it all started.

Somewhere I ran across this statement:

God declared war at Bethlehem.

Thats hardly the way we think of it, but it is not unbiblical. Ever since Eden, a battle has been raging between God and Satan for control of planet earth. When Adam and Eve sinned, Satan struck a blow for evil. From that time until this very hour, sin has reigned in every corner of this planet and has found a home in every human heart. All the pain and suffering we see around usevery bit of itcan be traced back to that fateful moment in the Garden of Eden. Since then the armies of evil have been on the march in every generation. They have landed wave after wave of soldiers on beachheads around the world. There are times when it seems as if the battle is over and evil will reign forever.

But if Christmas means anything, it is this: God wins in the end. At Bethlehem he launched a mighty counteroffensive that continues to this very day. It all started with a tiny baby boy named Jesus, born in a scandalous way, in a barn, to unmarried teenagers who were homeless and alone. The world had no idea what God was up to. Only in retrospect do we understand.

The familiar words of Phillips Brooks are a delight at this point:

How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given.

So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven.

No ear may hear his coming but in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.

So he does! May that be your experience this Christmas season.

O God, lead us again to the place where Mary laid her child so that we may know that you choose the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. Amen.

Circumcised

At the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. (Luke 2:21).

This may be the most forgotten verse in the Christmas story.