Christmas - what does it mean to you? ...

Monday, Dec 21, 2015. What does Christmas mean to you? I asked our youth group yesterday, and got a whole range of different reactions. Let us think about it for a moment …

From Family Ties to God's Presence …

Christmas can be seen as an opportunity to get out for two weeks and to see family and friends. Many of us visit parents, as far as possible. Others go skiing for some time, visit friends over New Year or take time to just pull out.

What does Christmas mean? We hear the story of the Jesus baby, born in a stable in Bethlehem. We hear about his parents, who had to travel. We hear about shepherds in the night. We hear about angels, and about the wise men from the east. What is our relationship to these stories? Do we believe that it is true? Do they sound reasonable, or do we follow the critics who think it cannot be a reality. And more important: what happened during those days?

In our youth group we have discussed the different parts of the story. We have tried to explore its meaning and its truth. Though of course we know that the question of what reasons we have to believe is a very wide and deep area.

God's Ways …

We have also talked about God's ways, which are so different from what humans would expect. Why did God not come with big power and great signs? He came as a little child, into a poor family, in a poor and unfortunate environment. The bible presents Jesus as the king of heaven, but he went into the biggest trouble. God came to us, into all our problems. That is what he wanted to do, nothing less!

God becoming human is a hot story, even today, after 2000 years! It is worth talking about, and thinking about. He does not do things as we expect - and that is something which we can experience as well when we live in faith. We pray, but his answers are different from what we would do. He is going deeper. He is initiating real change. He is helping us much better than we could imagine.

What does Christmas mean to you? What could it mean? Why not ask the Lord to renew its meaning, to establish its meaning, to come to you today and tomorrow, as the living Lord? As he came into this world in Jesus, he wants to come into our life, into god and bad things, into our trouble, our fears and our hopes. This year Christmas can be a time to let this happen, for you and for me! (RWEP) ... more texts