By Rev. Dr. Ed and Mark Hird
-an article for the
December 2015 Deep Cove Crier
If the wise men at Christmas had been wise women, they might
have brought Jesus practical Christmas gifts like baby toys, food or clothes (not
myrrh, frankincense and gold). These
wise men had no idea how their initial gift-giving at Christmas would
eventually fuel the world economy, helping many businesses go from red into the
black in December. Why is it that
gift-giving at Christmas has become so entrenched in most people’s lives? Why is it that many of us struggle to unwrap
the gift of Christmas? Why is it that
Christmas, the most joyful time of year, is also the most depressing time of
year for many?
As a child, I loved looking forward to opening Christmas
presents waiting under the Christmas tree.
Our public school still had actual Christmas pageants in which I took my
part as a Christmas shepherd. As a
teenager, opening Christmas presents was still fun, but it started to lose its
Christmas wonder. I still unwrapped the
Christmas presents each December, but I never stopped to unwrap Christmas
itself. I never stopped to ask why we
were making such a fuss about the Christmas season. I will never forget when my mother had me go
to church on Christmas day. It felt like
a radical intrusion into an important holiday time. Why would someone go to church at
Christmas? Even though I had been raised
in church, I had no idea that God came to earth at Christmas, that God became a
little baby in manger. I never rejected
the meaning of Jesus’ birth at Christmas.
I just never thought about it. It
was so familiar to me that I was blind to Christmas.
Home blindness, the tendency to become oblivious to what is
in front of us, is a phenomena recognized by social scientists. People often say with regret that they never
really appreciated what they had until they lost it. Each Christmas, there are a myriad of
Christmas movies that express the theme of loss at Christmas, and rediscovering
the joy of Christmas. The Christmas
blockbuster ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ [originally called the Greatest Gift] went
unnoticed at its 1946 release, so much so that the copyright license in the
late 1970s was not even renewed. This
meant that television studios could show the movie for free at Christmas. After a few years of this, ‘It’s a Wonderful
Life’ became a cult classic. Who can
forget the conflict around the Christmas tree as Jimmy Stewart/George Bailey
was close to committing suicide? Who can
forget the final scene around the Christmas tree when all his friends come
together and unite in support? Who can
forget the joyful Christmas Carols sung by Jimmy Stewart, friends and family as
they thanked the baby Jesus for the true meaning of Christmas? This Christmas,
let not forget to unwrap the true gift of Christmas, the Christ Child come to
earth to save us.
The Rev. Dr. Ed and Mark Hird,
-an article for the December 2015 Deep Cove Crier
-author of Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit
1 comment:
Thanks Ed. An enjoyable and timely message for focusing on the theme of and reason for Christmas and the Incarnation of God in the Christ Child - the centre and soul of Christmas.(Hmm, Interesting note about the Jimmy Stewart film and the non-renewed copyright.)~~+~~
Post a Comment