It's Christmas!

It is an interesting phenomenon. Over the past few years, it seems as though Christmas begins for me during the week following Shiloh's Christmas musical. Don't misunderstand, I have completed the vast majority of my Christmas shopping, the house is decorated, and I am all but ready for the Christmas celebrations. Some of these tasks were completed weeks ago.

 

But it has not yet felt like Christmas.

 

Do you know what I mean?

 

There is something, deep down inside, that either does or does not feel like Christmas. To this point, Christmas has been a list of to-do's. It has been an addendum to my already impossible calendar. Things that I have to get done. People that I need to see. Places that I need to go. Cards to buy and mail. Decorations to hang. Lights to adjust. Parties to attend. Presents that I need to get. Clothes to plan and prepare. The list goes on and on.

 

To feel like Christmas, however, requires none of these things, I suppose. Maybe the lights and decorations and presents and carols get in the way of the real Christmas season. Now, I am not just referring to "Jesus as the reason for the season." I mean to suggest, instead, that there is something deep within each of us that resonates with the foundational experience of Christmas. At it's core, Christmas represents the onset of God's work among us. It represents God's love for God's people. This love is universal in nature and character. It is not just for those who rightly believe or rightly practice, or who believe exclusively that "Jesus is the reason for the season."

 

Perhaps the feeling comes with Shiloh's Christmas musical. Maybe it is from the Shiloh staff Christmas party, which has just happened to fall, over the last few years, on the weekend on the musical. It may be the more than 70 families that Shiloh is able to help this Christmas season, as an outcome of our annual golf outing. It may be the 120-some bags of food that Shiloh collected for the local food pantries, or the Heifer Project International Ark that Shiloh will, once again this year, provide for needy families and communities around the globe.

 

Whatever the case, I feel the love of God being poured out for all people this Christmas season. The feeling is palpable and overt. I hope you see it. I hope you feel it. I hope that you can join me in being a part of its planting in the world.

 

Merry Christmas! See you Sunday!