I suppose if there’s any advantage to living on my own during this Christmas season, it’s that I have had a lot of time to really think about what Christmas is about. No doubt you’ve heard it said about how Christmas is not about the parties, Santa Claus, shopping, family, friends and gift giving but really about Jesus- the reason for the season. Indeed this reminder is so often repeated around this time of year that it has almost become a cliché. This morning, I was musing over the redundancy of a ‘Christmas Mass.’ Redundant because of the etymology of the word Christmas which is a compound of ‘Christ’s Mass.’ As I thought about how few people actually knew about the second half of that word Christmas, I wondered if in a few centuries people would altogether forget about the first half. As I pondered, I could even imagine people with the same hustle and bustle characteristic of this time of the year whizzing around their futuristic skyscrapers searching for gifts for their loved one’s, completely oblivious to the fact that the holiday that they are celebrating at one point had something to do with Christ- the savior of the world. A scary thought perhaps but like the Samsung tagline it eerily isn’t that hard to imagine.

Being alone all the time musing is hardly any fun and so (to avoid emo moments) I’ve spent a lot of time with my friends who have effectively become my adopted family this Christmas. If you know anything about me you probably know that I’m quite unashamedly a strange breed. My best friends are Church people whose idea of a good time involves spending hours at Church studying the Bible and singing His praise. One of the consequences of being at Church so often this time of year is that that you tend to hear a lot of Christmas messages, so much so that you sometimes feel like you’ve heard them all. But a few days ago, I heard a Christmas message that was unlike any other I had ever heard before because unlike most sermons during this time of the year that seem to be tailor-made to give people that uplifting spirit and get them in the mood of the season, this one was intended to jar people into a different sort of state.

Most people picture the scene in the manger with romanticized goggles. Maybe the popular carol ‘Silent Night’ is to blame but many imagine the situation surrounding the birth of Jesus as a serene and tranquil setting where all is calm and all is bright. I remember the speaker challenge these fantastical notions with a stark reality check. It was probably not very silent that night as the animals that Jesus shared the manger with were probably not too ecstatic to have their quarters intruded upon. Come to think of it, it probably didn’t smell too nice as well. It was more likely very dark, dirty, wet and cold that night that Jesus was born. In short, Jesus was born in a mess. I felt the sermon was brilliant because as it concluded, it made perfect sense for Jesus to be born in such a mess. It was so obvious to me I almost had to ask my self ‘why wouldn’t He be?

I now have one more reason to give to those who curiously ask why I choose to live my life the way I do. My humble answer is, because the one I live for never shied away from a mess. He didn’t shy away from the mess that surrounded his birth, nor the mess in the world he came to redeem and he certainly didn’t shy away from the mess that is my life.

The sermon ended with a challenge (characteristic of most at Station1 that sometimes remind me of a DS102 class rather than a Church service) to also go into the mess of the world and bring the light of Christmas with us- the message of hope, and of redemption for this fallen, broken generation and of peace for empty and wounded hearts. Imagine if this is what Christmas would be known for a coupe of centuries in the future. Imagine people going out of their way to bring the message of Love to the darkest corners of the world, to the farthest reaches of people’s hearts. Sounds far-fetched? Perhaps but with Christ, its not that hard to imagine.

These are just the musings of my overactive mind that I felt the need to put down and share with the world even at the risk of sounding preachy!
Have a truly merry Christmas!