The Story Goes On
We've spoken this week about how our stories need Jesus at the centre. How He must be the main character, as Saviour, as Lord, and as Companion. And I pray that this was the case for you yesterday, as you celebrated Christmas in whatever fashion you did.
But Christmas, of course, is an ongoing story. The story of Christmas is not just relevant for the first 25 (or 26) days of December. The story of Christmas goes on, every day.
Back in 1984 the band Queen released a Christmas song called Thank God It's Christmas. It's not a worship song at all, it's more about cultural Christmas, but there's a line that says:
Thank God it's Christmas! Can it be Christmas? Let it be Christmas every day!
Could we have Christmas every day? Perhaps not with the lights and trees and tinsel and all that, but with Jesus in our hearts?
An Accidental Tradition
Let me share a story with you, which I found in a 1998 Nazarene magazine, written by a lady named June Kolf:
"I looked at the forgotten Nativity and pictured the airtight box way up in the garage. I'll just leave it out all year long, I decided, and pack it away next year. Even my husband agreed. 'How about moving it out of the bathroom, though?' he suggested.
I did just that. I moved it into the living room to a prominent position on top of our piano. That was over 10 years ago. The results were startling. No one coming into our home could miss it. Some people simply stared, not saying anything. Others remarked that it was interesting to have a Christmas Nativity on display in July. I would smile and tell them that all year long I liked to remember the birth of Jesus and what His life stood for.
The next Christmas my children begged me not to pack the Nativity away. In fact, I left out several others as well. As the years have passed, I continue to display various sets from my collection in almost every room of our house. Many of my friends have copied this practice and now do likewise. All three of my children are grown now, and they have various nativities all over their houses. My grandchildren are being raised to think it's perfectly natural, that nativities are not for the Christmas holidays only.
What started out as an oversight has grown into a family tradition. It allows us the opening to talk about Jesus in a natural, comfortable way to guests in our homes, and it warms my heart whenever I dust a little figure in a manger and remember the accidental way this tradition started. Or was it accidental?"
Keeping Christmas Going
Well Christmas was over yesterday, but how can you keep Christmas going all year? By leaving a nativity set out all year for all to see? Or a Christmas tree? Or by bringing Jesus into more conversations, by listening to Christmas worship songs more often during the year?
It's special to spend December focusing on the manger, but it's not only Easter time that we focus on the cross. We talk about it a lot. Should it be the same for the manger?
As the year ends, may we not leave the Christmas story behind, but take it with us into the new year, and even into every day.
The Christmas story doesn't end on 25 December - it continues every day as we live with Jesus at the centre. Commit today to keeping Christmas alive in your heart throughout the entire year.