Believe. He Will Return.
A few years back I was walking through Opry Mills with Jennifer and the kids. It was early December, so the mall was decked out in all the trim and finish one would expect a palace to consumerism to have. As a Millennial, I’m three generations in to the sights and sounds of post WWII secular Christmas. It is the air I breath. It is the default. It comes and goes in my life expected, but also unnoticed, like July 4th and Halloween. The day after Thanksgiving it springs up as if out of nowhere and no one misses a beat when Kroger starts playing songs about magical snowmen instead of pop hits from the early aughts. That particular day, however, something did stand out to me. As I stood outside a store keeping Oliver moving in the stroller, I noticed a large display. Taking up the entire middle space where a pop-up store could go, were giant red sparkly letters all decorated for Christmas. They spelt out the word “believe.”
Read more...Advent: Always be Ready
In my home it is no secret that I am no fan of secular Christmas. I was raised outside the Church. When I was a kid, I loved Christmas. The music. The beautiful colors. Nostalgia for a “better time.” The idea of joy, family, and peace. And, naturally, presents.
But, then, I answered the call of Jesus. Christmas, I came to understand, was not just a remembrance of a nice man that gave out pretty sayings and showed an examplary way of life. Christmas was a Christian feast of the Incarnation. God became human. God came to us! The world and the universe were bigger than I had ever imagined. God was real. God knew me and — even when he really and truly knew me — he loved me unconstrained and unconditionally. The nativity is the moment where everything changed. It is the momement were the Word of God took on flesh. My flesh. Your flesh. Our flesh. “Cur Deus homo?”/“Why did God become Human?” asked St. Anselm. One begins to find the answer to that question with Christmas.
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