“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me…” MALACHI 3:1 (NIV)
On Friday, immediately after I reset our house from Thanksgiving chaos, folding up card tables, taking out bags of trash, reassembling our sectional, and vacuuming whatever bits of food our labradoodle missed in his efforts to join his family in giving thanks, Amanda asked me to “take down the Christmas stuff from the garage.” Very few things in my life somehow manage to remove joy faster for me than that phrase. I don’t really know why. Maybe it has something to do with standing atop a teetering ladder and reaching into the allergen laced dusty confines of the loft space above the car. Maybe it has something to do with untangling the seemingly unending and impossibly entangled strands of Christmas lights. Maybe it has to do with the discovery that because I broke a bunch of ornaments, glass figurines, or snowflakes either in the previous year’s taking down or in the putting-back-up process, we’ll need to buy more Christmas stuff (Yes, this is about spending money. Yes, I know this is the principal issue facing Ebenezer Scrooge. Bah.).
Christmas takes so much preparation. The exterior of our house is a modest homage to Clark Griswold. We have inflatable eight foot tall figures in our backyard so that we (read: Amanda) can enjoy the lights from inside our house. Along the bannister is a series of homemade construction paper holly leaves and paper chains counting the days until Christmas. Our house is prepared. I’m not sure I am. But, our house is ready to “receive her king.” I have not yet found a way to celebrate. Christmas, thus far, is mostly about more work around the house. Bah.
I need something to get me started at leaning toward celebrating Jesus. The Bible talks about people getting ready for God’s message. I think Amanda and our kids are there. But, I need something that might help me to “prepare him room.” I need the joy that is evidenced in our eight foot Christmas tree (that I insisted be purchased at Costco — it’s the cheapest there is) in all its illuminated regalia. Maybe my heart leading up to Christmas really is “two sizes too small.”
Celebration may be hard for me to come by, but it is what I need. I know it. So, I’m going big. This Sunday night, Mariners MV will host our church’s annual tree lighting in such a contagious and unambiguously joyful way, that my heart (and many others like mine) might be rightly aimed at Christmas — at Jesus. Every year, this event marks the beginning of Christmas for me, personally. It prepares me. I’m not sure whether it’s the ten tons of real snow, the potluck-style chili bar (please contact Kim Alexander if you’d like to contribute your own crock-pot), the live music, our version of the 12-Days of Christmas, or in meeting all the people you’ve invited. But, each year, without fail, my own heart is jump-started into a Jesus-oriented Christmas. I won’t miss it. I need it. I’ll be there on the patio at 5p, chili in hand, getting ready for Christmas.
See you Sunday,
Jeff