St. John UMC Revelations
Volume XX Issue XII | DECEMBER 2024
Have you ever noticed the kind of Christmas movies there are? They usually follow a pattern. It seems that the Christmas movies usually fall into two categories—either chasing Christmas or avoiding it. What got me thinking about the two extremes the title for a Christmas move called, “Chasing Christmas.” That title seems to sum up a lot of what happens with a lot of people. Some chase after the meaning of Christmas, and others avoid Christmas. God made us with a hunger for eternity: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV).
Think about it. Were Scrooge and the Grinch Christmas chasers or Christmas dodgers? How many movies do you see where the main characters are Christmas chasers as opposed to Christmas dodgers? How many Christmas movies might have both?
In the original Christmas story we have both Christmas chasers and Christmas dodgers. The Wise Men, and the Shepherds who were watching their flocks by night were Christmas chasers. Simeon and Anna the prophetess (both in Luke 2) were also Christmas chasers. Herod, the chief priests and teachers of the law (see Matthew 2:3-5, 7-9) were Christmas dodgers.
To dodge Christmas is to reject the Savior. Jesus came to bring light and life to us all because He is the light of men and His light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it (John 1:4- 5). Jesus is our Immanuel—our God with us (Matthew 1:23). Jesus is our Savior because He came to save people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Jesus came to seek the last, the lost and the least.
Without Christmas—the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ there is no Easter —the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Without Jesus, there is no hope. The chorus of the song (by Don McClurkin) Lord I Lift Your Name on High says it well:
“You came from heaven to earth, to show the way
From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay
From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky
Lord I lift your name on high”
Jesus is truly the reason for the Christmas season because He is the only answer to that hunger for eternity!ger for eternity!
Rev. John M. Williams, III