Celebrate!

We're going to take a break from John's Gospel. Soon Christmas will be upon us, and I thought that it would be good for me to look around for some things that might help you as you celebrate Jesus' birth. So, today, we're going to deal with this question. How are we to celebrate this great act of God? I'm raising this question because of our cultural situation. It's no secret that our part of the world celebrates Christmas today in a way that is quite different from not all that long ago, and it is a change that is not for the better. We would be naive to think that this doesn't affect us. So, I think that it would be good to consider again what celebrating Jesus' Coming looks like. I won't be using one particular text. Instead, we'll look at several different texts to see what the Scriptures have to say about this celebration.

Let's start with Joshua. Israel has spent those forty years in the wilderness, being purified and transformed. It's now time to enter the Promised Land. The first obstacle that they face is the Jordan River. They had to cross this river, but it was at flood stage. There was too much water for the people to be able to cross. Back then they didn't have any army corps of engineers that could throw a pontoon bridge over the rushing waters. So, it appeared that God's plans for Israel to enter the land were thwarted, at least for the time being. But God is not stopped by a bit of water. At his command the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant, the sacrament of his presence, into the river. As soon as they stepped into the river the water stopped flowing. The water just stopped rushing downstream. So, the people crossed over on dry ground. God did a miracle.

But that's not the end of the story.

When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests' feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’” Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.” And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there.

God wanted a pile of rocks from the middle of the Jordan River. Why? He wanted the people to remember what he did at that place. It was to be a memorial for the people.

Notice the elements of this memorial. First, God powerful acted. He stopped the raging water for his people. That's the point of the memorial. Then, note how the people were to be reminded of this great act. There was to be something physical to remind them, something they could see and touch: the pile of rocks. And then there was the third ingredient: words. These words interpreted the physical reminder, the rocks. Without the words all you have is an odd pile of rocks. It needs to be interpreted. 'This pile of rocks is a reminder of the time God did a great work for his people.' And what happened on that day was retold. And isn't it interesting: these interpretive words were especially for the children. God is very concerned that the children hear the stories of his great works so that they might be faithful. Three ingredients so that the people of God, down through the generations, would remember this mighty act of God.

Let's look at another example of this sort of thing. This example comes from the Passover and it adds to what we've already seen.

Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. … and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. … “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. … For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. ... Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. … On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. … And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. … And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’

Once again, we have God directing the people so that they would remember one of his mighty acts on their behalf. And we have some of the same ingredients as we had with the crossing of the Jordan. God does a mighty act. The people are to remember it using physical things. Here, it's not rocks but food. God specifies the food: roasted lamb, bitter herbs and bread that has no leaven. And there are, again, the interpretive words which are given in the context of one of the children asking for an explanation. There are some other things, beside the addition of the food, that are different. This special meal is to be an annual event. The memory of what God did was to be renewed in this way at the same time each year. The other addition is the holy assembly. The people, reminded of what God did for them, are to gather together for worship. Remembering leads to worship.

Let's add one more example. This comes from the book of Esther which we are currently reading. As you'll see, God rescues his people from the evil plot of Haman, the Agagite. In response to this mighty act of God, the people celebrate.

And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor. …Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.

Here, you can see some of the same ingredients as in the other passages, as well as some new ingredients. There are special days set apart for feasting and gladness. There was gift-giving. All of this was to continue each year, and orthodox Jews still celebrate it to this day. What is different here is that God did not command it. This was the response of the people to what God had done.

There are other passages that fit in with this theme, but I think that these are sufficient. They give some direction when it comes to celebrating the great and mighty act of God in sending his Son to rescue us.

That's the theory. What follow are some aspects of the practice. I have three thoughts here. First, I'll give you an example of what this might look like. This isn't the only right way to celebrate Jesus' Coming. There are lots of variations on the theme. But it's how our family did it when the kids were still at home.

Our Christmas Eve celebration began with some appetizers: Knäckebröd with French onion dip and cranberry juice. We had this in the living room which was appropriately decorated with a Christmas tree, hidden elves, a manger scene Linda had made and other things. We sang some Christmas carols and read some Scripture and prayed. And sometimes we lit an Advent Wreath. Once that was done we went into the dining room. The table was filled with special once-a-year foods. There was korv and lingenberry sauce, kol dormer, sil, potatoes, cranberry sauce, a fruit salad the name of which I can't properly pronounce and more. After dinner, we all went to church for the Christmas Eve service where we would sing more carols, offer up our prayers of thanks and be reminded from the Scriptures why this day is special. When we returned home, we spent a little time opening stocking stuffers which Linda had wrapped and I labeled with silly notes the night before. Then the kids went up to bed and Linda and I sat in the living room with only the Christmas tree lights on enjoying a glass of wine together. The next day, Christmas Day, started with a breakfast of sweet rolls and coffee or cocoa. And then it was gift-opening time. Once my in-laws had moved up to North East we spent the afternoon at their place eating some more and opening more gifts. I think that you can see the ingredients that we found in those passages reflected in our family's traditions. Act of God: Jesus has come. Physical reminders: appropriate decorations and special foods. Interpretive words. Worship. Again, this isn't how celebrating Jesus' birth has to happen. It's just how we did it. And we did it this way because this was pretty much how Linda did it when she was growing up. It was a tradition passed from one generation to the next.

That was my first thought. Here's the second. I've used the language of 'ingredients' to describe the different aspects of celebration. And that seems right. But if anyone were to think that all that needs to happen is just to follow the recipe - mix ingredients, bake for an hour at 350 and serve - he would be sadly mistaken. There are many who do that sort of thing, whether with these ingredients or some others, but they do not end up with a celebration of the mighty acts of God. Just following a recipe once a year will often result in an empty religious ritual. The celebration of the mighty act of God in the Coming of Jesus isn't supposed to be some oddity that we do once a year. That won't work. Celebrating this or any other mighty act of God on some special day will only work if all the other days of the year also include some awareness of the mighty acts of God. What's different about this one day is not that we're thinking about something that we don't usually think about. What's different is that we giving it a much greater emphasis than what we normally do. Remembering our God and some aspect of the great things that he has done for us is to be a daily event.

So, what is special about Christmas Eve dinner is not that we are going to talk about and sing about Jesus. Talking about the great works of God is not something to be done just on one particular night. Our family did that every night. We prepared for an extra-special celebration of Jesus, Christmas Eve, by remembering him every evening in our family devotions after dinner. Talking together as a family about Jesus at Christmas time was extra special because we talked about him all the rest of the year.

So, here's the point. Christmas becomes a glorious celebration of Jesus when he is remembered the rest of the year. If that daily remembering isn't present, then Christmas as remembering the Incarnation is someone trying to be what he isn't, trying to do what he doesn't do normally. As a result, what you end up with, at the very least, is a celebration of Jesus that isn't nearly as powerful as it might be. And at the worst, it becomes just another habit that is devoid of any real religious significance. And isn't that what Christmas has become for most of our neighbors?

The point of the celebration is Jesus. The other stuff, the decorations, the food, the singing, the gifts and whatever else someone might do, the very enjoyable traditions that make up the celebration - they are all there to press home the wonder and the excitement of this mighty work of God: Jesus has come!

And that leads to this last thought that I want to make. Why am I talking to you about this? Our culture celebrates Christmas but not Jesus. And it would be foolish to think that this does not affect us and our children in one way or another. We need to think about what it means to celebrate the great works of God, like Christmas. We need to be more self-conscious when it comes to what we are doing and why we do it. People who are not careful here run the risk of ending up with empty religious rituals which will be rejected in a generation or two.

But, to look on the brighter side, as we are careful in these things it will have a very positive affect. First, it will affect our children. A Christian celebration of Jesus' Coming will be such a blessing to our children. It will be a time of good family memories, renewed traditions, lots of laughter. And it will be a time to remind them that the point not just of this season, but the point of all of life is Jesus. So, prepare them to celebrate Christmas by reminding them of Jesus every day. And then when Christmas arrives, have a blast. Jesus has come! We have much to be happy about.

Being careful in these things will also have an affect on the world around us. We are surrounded by people who, more and more, have no clue about life. They don't understand the Jesus has come so that we might be happy and that forever. They are not happy, don't know how to become happy. They think that having a party will make up for it. We need to show them happiness. We need to show them how that happens. We need to show them Jesus. And part of that is how we celebrate things like Christmas. Our celebrations can change the world.