ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 3, 2022
You have probably already seen some Christmas commercials, some Christmas aisles showing up in the stores, and even heard some Christmas music. Halloween is behind us, so we’ve got to get focused on Christmas. Right? Around my house growing up, we were pretty diligent about keeping Christmas at bay. In fact, there was a constant reminder that we focused on Thanksgiving, learning (relearning) to be thankful, so that when the Christmas gift arrived, we knew how to be thankful. When we spoke of the “Christmas gift,” we were talking about both the items under the tree and God’s great gift of love enfleshed. Christmas will happen whether or not we reconnect with the importance of gratitude at Thanksgiving, but accepting the arrival of God’s gift and truly being thankful are two entirely different mindsets. I think the world needs a church that understands the depth of grace embodied in the gift and lives in a spirit of gratitude for the gift. As a kid, I received some really cool Christmas gifts, but many were met with vain and empty gratitude, completely unappreciative of what was behind the gift. So over the next few weeks, let’s really work on our capacity for gratitude.
So often the words “thank you” spill from our lips without any appreciation of what the gift represents. Grow within me, O God, a heart that sees what is so often hidden within the gift—a depth of breath-taking love born out of a heart of merciful kindness. Amen.
