A Christmas Homily

Christmas has come and Christmas has gone.
Again.



It has become such a commercial enterprise that I fear even I have become subliminally affected by the tides of consumerism. The other day I wondered whether I should still have my outdoor lights twinkling away, although the twelve days of Christmas were not even half over.* A couple of years ago I was at Myer** on Christmas Eve around lunch time and the staff were already pulling down the Christmas decorations. I presume the big rush was so that they’d have to stay back for fewer hours on Christmas Eve in order to put up the Boxing Day Sale decorations.

The world I live in seems to be all about easing every dissatisfaction we have. Even I can get caught up in the temporary thrill of shopping - only to be dismayed by the credit card bill when the sheen of the new object has long worn off. But shopping is the new religion here. You only have to head to one of the local shopping centres (which look more like palaces of old!) on a Sunday to find out where so much of our population is spending its time.

We pretty much have deregulated shopping hours here in Victoria. It doesn’t matter what time of day or night it is, it’s usually possible to buy whatever you fancy. No need to have your gratification delayed. Your need (or want), meets the supplier’s greed. Where there’s money, there’s a way... Not 4 km down the road we have a Kmart** that is open 24 hours a day – only closing two days a year on Christmas day and Good Friday. Amazingly, those two days are still Christian holidays; although I’m sure fewer and fewer know of their significance.

These days mark the beginning and the end of the life of the most Amazing Man who ever walked this earth. Fully God, He deigned to become fully man as well and entered this world in the least likely of surroundings. A King was laid to sleep in the hay amongst the bleating of animals and the smell of dung.

Just as His entry into this world was somewhat inauspicious, so was His exit from it. He was strung up on a cross like a common criminal, even though he’d done nothing wrong. And the time in between His birth and death, while certainly controversial, was not the kind of life we think of when we imagine how a King lives. He was the child of a carpenter, He laboured with His hands. During His ministry years He travelled without luggage or servants and often didn’t even know what He would eat that day or where He would lay His head – sounds more like a homeless person to me

So why DID Jesus live such an ‘ordinary’ life – devoid of all the comforts which would have rightly been His? He could have summoned up banquet tables, luscious linens and soft, downy bedding simply by opening His mouth.

But He didn’t.

I don’t think Jesus thinks these things are bad, but He does talk about them being a distraction. One day a man approached Jesus, asking how He could enter God’s kingdom. Jesus said He would need to give away all of His worldly wealth. The man basically freaked out and ran away. Jesus didn’t ask this of everyone. He often stayed in the homes of wealthy people and enjoyed their hospitality. But He did ask His disciples to leave behind their possessions and follow Him. They were on a focussed mission, and it wasn’t time to be distracted by accumulating treasure on earth that moth and rust would only destroy in the end.

‘Things’ can be good. God doesn’t want us to shun all of our material possessions and cut ourselves off from the world. God blesses us and showers us with the things we need, and often with much, much more than we need, so that we can shower others with blessings. But these ‘things’ should never become a distraction.

There will be times in all of our lives when God wants us to take our eyes off of the things of this world. I know for myself, as we prepare to serve God in Russia, there is a part of me that mourns the loss of my ‘things’. I certainly won’t be able to take many of them with us, and what do I do with the ones that we don’t take? What can I bear to part with, and what am I prepared to pay storage fees for? When we get there, we won’t have some of the creature comforts we now take for granted. I also love where we live. We have the most wonderful neighbours, the location is superb, the house meets our needs and the rent is reasonable. We don’t own a house, so when we leave here, we are almost guaranteed never to be able to live in this place again. Where would we live when we come back, whenever that is?

When I think about these things, I try to remind myself that while these concerns are real, they are not my concerns. They are distractions, and I need to hand them over to God. He is the one who has called us, and He knows every in and out of our situation. Time and again I have seen God solve the ‘problems’ in our lives in creative ways. He is the Creator after all. What am I worried about?

So, at this time of Christmas, and as we look forward to the New Year, it is a good time to think about what the distractions in our lives may be. Are they drawing our focus away from the vision God has given us? What has God called you to do? I challenge you to cast your cares upon Him who cares for you, and realign your focus. It’s going to be an exciting year!

* Yes, the 12 days of Christmas start at Christmas and end at Epiphany in January, they don’t end on Christmas day as appears to be a mistaken notion in some of the advertising I’ve seen.
** In case this means nothing to you, it’s a higher end department store
** This is a discount deparment store