A Happy Dad and Five Reasons Why I Believe in Christmas
(Excerpt from the Dec/Jan 2009 Trinity Tidings Newsletter)
Recently our confirmation class studied three verses that are recorded in the Gospel of St. Luke chapter 1: 77-79. They read:
…to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high shall visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
These words are from the mouth of the exuberant priest Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. Because the words are actually referring to John as a forerunner (verse 76), consider this: few people expect to stop eating when the appetizer is served or to have an opera end with the opening overture or to declare the journey completed only when the car is packed. John the Baptist as "forerunner" was preparing everyone for the main act, the promised Messiah, Jesus the Babe of Bethlehem.
During this "holiday season" when the word "Christmas" is avoided like the plague, I want to share why I believe in "Christmas!" My reasons have a lot to do with the words of Zacharias. As you can imagine, I believe in Christmas for more reasons than these five, but I present them in the hope that you will think about your own reasons for “believing in Christmas.”
I Believe in Christmas...
Because We Live in a Material World:
“Sunrise... death... feet..." These are all elements of a material world. Unlike many other faiths, Christianity both believes in a material physical world, and insists that a material world is essential for its theology. As Jesus said in John Chapter 4, "God is Spirit...." If that’s true, why didn't God just create us as exclusively spiritual beings instead of including a physical nature? I suppose we’ll never really know the ultimate answer to that question, but the next time you pinch your finger or look at a beautiful sunrise, remember that God created creation physical. And a physically fallen world must be physically lifted up. Jesus had to be born into the flesh to fix the problems of the flesh. The beautiful Baby born in Bethlehem, the Lord of Life Himself, would deal a death a deadly blow by dying a real death. (Take a moment and read Colossians 1:22 and Hebrews 2:14.)
Application: Find a way to mirror the physical sacrifice of Christ, through your own physical “offering(s).”
Because We Live in a Broken World:
“... salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God..." Laws are a necessary burden to make life livable, but they will never change a heart. From store stampedes, to assaults on innocents, we are reminded that mankind is both broken and breaking. No amount of laws will remedy a lawless man, and indeed it has been accurately noted that "The more laws a society has, the more lawless that society is…. ” I believe in Christmas because it's about redemption. It's about God entering His creation to fix it from the inside out. It's about “salvation,” where God's eternal salvage operation was accomplished through His mercy rather than our merit. As we look at the Christmas cradle, we are reminded that His mercy is indeed "tender" as an infant and is based on forgiveness of sins, not the formation of our own saintliness.
Application: Act like God acted at Christmas. Deal tenderly and mercifully with those who sin against you.
Because of Prophecy:
“the Sunrise from on high shall visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness..." You don't hear a lot of atheists or unbelievers try to refute prophecies of Christmas, which may be because they are unaware of them. The prophetic passage above from Zacharias actually comes from the Old Testament book of Isaiah, chapter 9, which includes the famous Christmas prophecy that begins this way, “…for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given….” 
Unlike other religions which have no built-in truth tests -- which is what prophecies really are -- Christianity is not only pregnant with prophecy, but indeed, in Christmas we see that it also delivers! The prophecy that the Messiah would be born unto a woman is as old as the Garden of Eden itself, (see Genesis 3:15). Christmas prophecies also include a mention of a “forerunner” (John the Baptist, Isaiah 40 & Malachi 3); a virgin giving birth (Isaiah 7:14); the Eternal One being born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, the smaller of two villages named "Bethlehem" [God even nails the details!] (Micah 5:2) --- not to mention the prophecies of the lineage of Jesus including the line of Abraham, the tribe of Judah, the family of David, being born during the Roman Empire.
Application: Learn some of these Christmas prophecies and share them with your friends who are either searching or not searching but who celebrate Christmas.
Because of History and Geography:
“… the Sunrise from on high shall visit us…” God sent His Son to earth in the middle of history -- and in the middle of geography -- to be the Center of our life. Jesus’ incarnation occurred during the peace of Rome and in poignant juxtaposition with the corruption of the Roman emperor and the priests of Jesus’ Day. The beauty of this “timing and placing” is two-fold. First, the Roman peace established a time of free trade and a largely universal language so that the message of Christmas might be shared, while, secondly, the people were hungry for both a noble leader and faithful priests. Israel, being located in the "middle east," brought together the mysticism of the East and the concrete intellectualism of the West. Isn’t it wonderful that Christmas is at the same time mysterious, “the Word becoming flesh…” and tactile? A real Baby is born in a real village, in the shadow of the fortress of an irrationally anxious king (Herod the Great – by the way the remnant of that fortress still stands today), to be the Prince of Peace!Application: If you haven’t already, make Jesus the center of your Christmas celebration - and your life.
Because It's... Christmas!
“... to guide our feet in the way of peace…" The etymology of “Christmas” is both curious and profound. Obviously the title "Christ" is at the beginning of the word. Christ means "the anointed one" and points to Jesus being King, Prophet, and Priest. (In Israel these various sacred offices were all initiated by anointing.) But the suffix "mas" is a bit more problematic. In Old English “maesse” had the sense of both “celebration” and “dismissal,” which is probably why in the celebration of the Roman Catholic Mass, once the Eucharist was received, the Mass ended. Once we have Jesus, what else do we need? As Christians -- especially at Christmas time -- we need to have an overwhelming sense of peace and satisfaction. In a world that's chaotic enough to cause people to trample each other to get a Christmas gift, we need to be fully convinced that the Ultimate Gift has already been presented to us and is unwrapped by faith.
Application: Serve Christ your King by offering special gifts to Him. Listen to Christ your Prophet by worshiping regularly and devoting yourself to His Word. Believe in Christ your Priest by embracing the grace that He offers this Christmas and always.
Christmas greetings in Christ Jesus,
Pastor Foote