THE REAL REASON FOR THE SEASON

 

By James Wilson

            As I write this it is raining throughout California.  Everybody knows the drought is set to continue for another two to three years, yet my region alone has seen three and a half times the rainfall of last year at this time.  That does not mean the drought is over; it will take a year of this rain plus plenty of snowfall to make up for what is lost.  It does mean our Sovereign God loves His people and shows mercy even as He continues to call us to turn back to Him and away from the solutions to our problems that have brought nothing but riots in Ferguson and chaos at our borders.

            Yes the riots and the chaos – and the underemployment crisis, the politically-correct-thought-police, lawless government officials riding roughshod – and all the other factors bringing hopelessness to our land are the fruit of people like us doing the best we can without reference to a King Who is the Best we’ll ever have.  Repentance is simply re-focus of our attention on this King – not beating ourselves up – unless admitting we are not the hot stuff we think ourselves to be is beating ourselves up.

            Christmas is coming and it has a meaning.  It is not the meaning most of us – including most Christians – ascribe to it.  It is not about peace – although peace is a Christmas consequence – unless we understand the peace that passes all understanding is derived from God’s decision to send His Son into the world as the bearer of abundant life (John 1:10-14) for all who engage with Him.  It is not about joy to the world – that too is a consequence – unless we get it that His service and worship is the sole path (Luke 2:8-16) to that joy.  And it is not about re-uniting families or being generous or even about forgiveness – these are all consequential blessings of Christmas – until we permit ourselves to be empowered by this inconceivable personality as Joseph was (Matthew 1:18-25) and we (Matthew 28:16-20) are called to be.  The whole story is unimaginable to adult minds (Matthew 18:2-5) and perfectly reasonable to children.  These outlandish claims are made in a book that has never been found in error. 

            More “scientific” disciplines – like paleontology – struggle to even name the dinosaurs; was that a Brontosaurus or Apatosaurus (?), while others – like medicine – change their tune from one decade to another about whether mothers’ milk or formula is best for babies.  Science thought the earth was flat until the late Middle Ages and only discovered that winds come in cyclonic patterns around 1840.  The Bible has been perfectly consistent about a rounded earth and the atmospheric cleansing properties of cyclonic winds since the first scroll was written.

            Jesus is the only reason for this season.  Turning to serve Him – and away from self-service – is the sole path to all the peace, joy, and restoration we need.  It begins not with thought but with vision, as all really important pursuits begin.  Reason and application come later, but vision is the irreducible first thing.

            It required the application of science and the resources of a can-do nation to put men on the moon four decades ago, but it was animator and visionary Walt Disney whose vision inspired and motivated the Apollo moonships and their crews.  His 1955 animated series, Man in Space, set two generations afire with the vision of humankind bursting the bonds of this earth.  John Kennedy’s speech committing America to the moon was itself the product of this vision cast by a cartoonist and film producer.

            As it was with Disney, so Jesus Christ – from His Christmas genesis as a human baby – squalling at the mercy of humankind in a manger – to His Easter resurrection as the God-Man Who gave Himself to death for us – is the vision incarnate Who inspires our peace, our joy, and our generosity.  But unlike Disney, Jesus is as much the enabler and creator and perfecter of peace, joy, and generosity as He is the inspiration for them. 

When we Christians say only repentance – re-focus – on Jesus can give authenticity to a supposed spirit of Christmas we are not trying to be a downer to more secular celebrations.  We are simply saying, “If you want more than the shadow life you can give yourself, if you want something deeper than an empty champagne bottle, go to the Source instead of settling for a substitute.  Of course there is accountability along with it.  Like gravity, accountability enables the journey that is impossible without our feet navigating solid ground.  St. Nicholas – the real one – understands this well.”