Concluding Thoughts on Advent and Christmas 2010
The Advent season affords perennial opportunity to express gratitude to Almighty God for the gift of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is also a time when we share His sacrificial love with everyone. Most regrettably, the crass commercialization of Christmas potentially undermines its divine intention. Yet, we as disciples and members of Christ’s Church which He purchases with His very own blood face the perpetual challenge of resisting the pitfalls of enriching the world’s financial and social system which ardently opposes the values and principles of the gospel of Christ. As you shop and prepare to give, remember to ground your activities in the biblical purposes of Christmas.
Some time ago, I read a very moving story in one of the multi-volume and multimillion selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series. The story details a father’s sacrificial love for his son during Christmastime. He learns that his son wants an autographed copy of a poster of a famous football player who happens to be one of the most sought-after sports celebrities. His fame and the demand of admirers exponentially raise the price of this signed poster. Yet, the man’s son really wants a copy. Narrating the story in retrospect on the occasion of Father’s Day, the son remembers that winter as particularly cold and harsh. He further recalls his father owning an inadequate coat to shelter his body from the fierce natural elements. Actually, he and his father had originally gone to the mall in pursuit of a sale on winter outwear. As they browsed, the son reiterated his desire for the autographed poster. Remaining true to the purpose of the trip, the father purchased the jacket; they left the mall and headed home.
As the big entrance doors closed, in the shaded light of the parking lot, the father focuses upon the entrenched disappointment and perhaps hurt on his beloved son’s face. He ponders his son’s feelings as they walk over blackened ice and snow toward their car. Just as they approach the doors, the father tells his son that he forgot something important inside. They do an about face and return to the mall. The father instructs the son to wait near the entrance as he retrieves the left item. Minutes pass, then the father appears with a big bag containing a large flat item. Later, not surprisingly, the father gives the son the sacrificial gift that his heart desires. The mist of the son’s surprise and utter delight and the fog of his innocence and immaturity combine to blind him to the real cost of the autographed poster. Beyond the money, the son’s gift required a season’s worth of chattering teeth, ashen and cracked skin, and numerous lengthy periods of cold discomfort as the father had exchanged his much needed winter coat to erase his son’s unhappiness. As a grown man and father himself, the son later acknowledges the incalculable and sacrificial expense of that poster.
In recounting this story, I immediately draw connections with Christmas. Our Heavenly Father, in the gift of His One and Only Begotten Son, makes an ultimate sacrifice of Himself. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, exchanges his divinity for humanity in order that He may remove the inherent, irreversible and perpetual death that plagues us. We are unable to determine the value of His atoning sacrifice. When we comprehend the mystery, majesty, magnificence and matchless nature of this gift, our response equals the son’s realization in the previous story. With resounding gratitude, we live to honor the gift and its Giver.
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