Somehow I was lured into a false sense of warm weather security. October showed very little promise for a cold winter. November showed even less, and for that, I admit, I was rather grateful. December began and it still felt like the winter solstice had skipped a beat and moved to a different part of the hemisphere. I confess, I am very suspicious about the whole concept of global warming especially in light of recent journalistic developments exposing less than ethical scientific methodology and reporting. None the less, I secretly would not mind if the weather in the Middle Atlantic States only gave us a few days of snow and winter was more like the winters we experienced while living in Tucson, Arizona: 30-40 degrees in the morning and 75 degrees by noon! Bright blue skies with cotton ball clouds and sunsets that photographers dream of and National Geographic publishes.
My false senses of security were rudely snapped on Friday, December 11th when the temperature plummeted and I realized I was way behind in my winter chores. The wood shed is full, but there is cutting and splitting to be done and wood must be moved into the breezeway. We burn about six cords of wood a year and it really keeps our energy bill in check. I will make no comment about our carbon footprint, because I’m not really sure which is worse: wood or oil combustion? In some ways I feel like a fairy tale character… the squirrel who did not store enough to make it through the winter. He played through the summer and autumn while his industrious neighbor gathered acorns. You know the rest of the story, and my situation is not quite the same—but I really do think I was deceived. It’s not as if I sat around twiddling my thumbs— there is never a lack of something to do and, as you know, in full-time vocational ministry there really is no such thing as hours in a workday because there is always something to attend to. I am grateful for that and grateful that the Lord called me to do what I do, but I am realizing more and more that there are certain things I must pay attention to or the tyranny of the urgent will overcome that which is really important.
Recall with me for a moment the account of Jesus visiting with Mary and Martha as recorded in the Gospel of Luke.
Luke10:38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
Assuming that the Lord does not return to claim His church before December 25th 2009 we will celebrate yet another Christmas: the birth of our Savior! Now, the question is how will we celebrate? Will we be lured into the world’s treatment of Christmas? Will we be lured into such business that we do not worship? Let me make some seemingly harsh, but true statements all with the prayerful hope that this Christmas will be different for many of us. Let me tell you what Christmas is not:
Christmas is not about families gathering together.
Christmas is not about food.
Christmas is not about decorations.
Christmas is not about sending cards.
Christmas is not about giving gifts to those we love.
Christmas is not about winter vacations and holiday cheer.
Now, I assume I have ruffled some feathers, so let me be quick to say none of the aforementioned items are evil—it’s just that we can get so embroiled in what we feel we must do, that we do not do what should be done. I am afraid that far too many of us are more like Martha than we are like Mary. I am not Ebenezer Scrooge’s long lost relative. I am not like Mary and I tend to be more like Martha, but I am aware of my tendency to be lured into doing something—anything that seems urgent, but is really not important.
If you have read this far and you are considering firing off an email to me, please do! And, if you have read this far and the Holy Spirit is convicting you as He is me, then, ask Him to help you really focus on what Christmas is:
The birth of our Lord!
What an amazing thing, that God would send His Son, as 1John reads:
1John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
I pray that this Christmas will be the most worshipful, spiritually rewarding Christmas you have ever experienced and I look forward to worshipping our Lord with you on Sunday and then again on Christmas Eve.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor J