Post by Tim Collins on Dec 23, 2008 9:24:17 GMT -7
Merry Christmas to one and all!
Every year it seems the press, commentators and the public in general feels an uncontrollable urge to lament the crass commercialization of what began as a religious celebration for Christians honoring the birth of their Savior. Pundits and common folk point to the seemingly meaningless requirement to spend hours shopping for the perfect gifts, the growing expectation that the gift must reach some ill defined level to be acceptable. We rate the success of our Christmas on how much we spend and how much others spend on us.
Let me be the one to attempt to end the lamentations if I may.
Christmas (for Christians) is the celebration of God's greatest gift to all mankind - his son. God the Father deemed to have his son born of a mortal woman so that he might enter into the realm of man, to share their experiences and to show the way back to the Father. The son was to be the fulfillment of the Father's promise of salvation.
The son, whose birth Christmas commemorates, was destined to suffer and die at the hands of those he was sent to save, so that the promise of salvation could be fulfilled by his resurrection.
So this Christmas, let us not curse the giving of gifts. Let us remember that in the exchanging of our meaningless baubles, we remember and give thanks for the gift given by God the Father. No gift we can give can ever match the gift we received all those many years ago on the first Christmas, but in giving as we can, let us do it with all the love we can muster.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only son....."
Every year it seems the press, commentators and the public in general feels an uncontrollable urge to lament the crass commercialization of what began as a religious celebration for Christians honoring the birth of their Savior. Pundits and common folk point to the seemingly meaningless requirement to spend hours shopping for the perfect gifts, the growing expectation that the gift must reach some ill defined level to be acceptable. We rate the success of our Christmas on how much we spend and how much others spend on us.
Let me be the one to attempt to end the lamentations if I may.
Christmas (for Christians) is the celebration of God's greatest gift to all mankind - his son. God the Father deemed to have his son born of a mortal woman so that he might enter into the realm of man, to share their experiences and to show the way back to the Father. The son was to be the fulfillment of the Father's promise of salvation.
The son, whose birth Christmas commemorates, was destined to suffer and die at the hands of those he was sent to save, so that the promise of salvation could be fulfilled by his resurrection.
So this Christmas, let us not curse the giving of gifts. Let us remember that in the exchanging of our meaningless baubles, we remember and give thanks for the gift given by God the Father. No gift we can give can ever match the gift we received all those many years ago on the first Christmas, but in giving as we can, let us do it with all the love we can muster.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only son....."