On the one hand, after a month of preparations, you may be ready for it, but on the other, there’s a bit of sadness that accompanies every step. But it’s time to get those boxes out and start putting those decorations away. It’s time to carefully remove the ornaments from the tree and unwind the lights from the branches. It’s time to go to the mantle and remove the nativity figurines one by one – including baby Jesus and put them back in the tub to wait until next December.
Get the idea? Another Christmas is done. And whether the decorations come down on the 26th or the 31st or you try to navigate it in between bowl games on the first of the new year, they are coming down. I won’t even try to sell you on the twelve days of Christmas that was a part of the Church’s true celebration of Christ’s coming (running from the 25th through January 5th), long before it was best known for its seemingly never ending song about geese a-laying, swans a-swimming, golden rings, French hens and a partridge in a pear tree.
Let’s just work with the culture around us for the background of today’s devotional thoughts. We have moved into the AFTER Christmas season. We’ve unwrapped the gifts, sung the carols at the services, consumed far too many Christmas cookies and food in general, welcomed and said goodbye to friends and loved ones, and survived the whole holiday rush (well sort of any way). Now it’s after Christmas and we’ll be returning to the “normal” life we live most of the other eleven months of the year.
So what do we do with this whole “John the Baptist” Christmas we’ve talked about over these past three and a half weeks? Do we simply put him away along with Advent wreath and leftover Christmas cards? It may not come as a surprise to you that my answer to this question would be “no.” In fact I believe we need this “John the Baptist” Christmas more than ever on December 26th and beyond. After all, at just six months old, John wasn’t even known as “the Baptizer” yet as the time of our Savior’s birth. On that holy of holy nights oin Bethlehem, John was just John the six month old cousin of Jesus (although I’m certain that Zechariah and Elizabeth still referred to him as their little miracle baby).
So John’s life calling to be “a witness of the Light” didn’t really get started until long after the stable was commandeered for a make-shift birthing room and the manger converted into a crib. And so all these aspects we’ve talked about to prepare for a “John the Baptist” Christmas are never meant to be lived out during the month of December alone. These are all characteristics of what it means to live as a follower of this Savior “who conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, He descended into hell, The third day He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
In other words, there is an AFTER – an important AFTER. And we live out this AFTER as our “John the Baptist” Christmas becomes a part of our “normal” lives in January through December and then do we do it all again. We live in the AFTER!
Note: Though it won’t be a called a “John the Baptist” Christmas next week, I’ll be sharing one more week of devotions to tell the rest of John’s story in the Bible.
Get the idea? Another Christmas is done. And whether the decorations come down on the 26th or the 31st or you try to navigate it in between bowl games on the first of the new year, they are coming down. I won’t even try to sell you on the twelve days of Christmas that was a part of the Church’s true celebration of Christ’s coming (running from the 25th through January 5th), long before it was best known for its seemingly never ending song about geese a-laying, swans a-swimming, golden rings, French hens and a partridge in a pear tree.
Let’s just work with the culture around us for the background of today’s devotional thoughts. We have moved into the AFTER Christmas season. We’ve unwrapped the gifts, sung the carols at the services, consumed far too many Christmas cookies and food in general, welcomed and said goodbye to friends and loved ones, and survived the whole holiday rush (well sort of any way). Now it’s after Christmas and we’ll be returning to the “normal” life we live most of the other eleven months of the year.
So what do we do with this whole “John the Baptist” Christmas we’ve talked about over these past three and a half weeks? Do we simply put him away along with Advent wreath and leftover Christmas cards? It may not come as a surprise to you that my answer to this question would be “no.” In fact I believe we need this “John the Baptist” Christmas more than ever on December 26th and beyond. After all, at just six months old, John wasn’t even known as “the Baptizer” yet as the time of our Savior’s birth. On that holy of holy nights oin Bethlehem, John was just John the six month old cousin of Jesus (although I’m certain that Zechariah and Elizabeth still referred to him as their little miracle baby).
So John’s life calling to be “a witness of the Light” didn’t really get started until long after the stable was commandeered for a make-shift birthing room and the manger converted into a crib. And so all these aspects we’ve talked about to prepare for a “John the Baptist” Christmas are never meant to be lived out during the month of December alone. These are all characteristics of what it means to live as a follower of this Savior “who conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, He descended into hell, The third day He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
In other words, there is an AFTER – an important AFTER. And we live out this AFTER as our “John the Baptist” Christmas becomes a part of our “normal” lives in January through December and then do we do it all again. We live in the AFTER!
Note: Though it won’t be a called a “John the Baptist” Christmas next week, I’ll be sharing one more week of devotions to tell the rest of John’s story in the Bible.
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