Making Himself Nothing . . .

I definitely fall prey to being too familiar with the Christmas story for it to have an impact on me every year. Every year, I have to work to get myself into the proper mindset for worship, and remember the immensity of what actually took place at the Incarnation. This year, I have had some help. I've watched The Nativity Story, the movie about Jesus' birth that came out several years ago. The scene where Mary gives birth to Jesus really struck me. Jesus, the Lord of the universe, was born by the ordinary human way, and that in the poorest possible conditions. God truly became flesh. What amazing humility! If God made Himself nothing for us, how much more should we be humble as we seek to serve Him and those He put in our lives!

 Merry Christmas to you all! Christ is born!

~Mac

On Presents

Why do we give presents to each other on Christmas day?

I am going to try not to turn this into a rant about the commercialization of Christmas. I just want to honestly explore that question.

On our birthdays, people usually give us presents. Why? Usually it's to show us they love us, care about us or appreciate us. So why do we give people presents on someone else's birthday? I can't really find a reason other than to share God's love, but why would we only do that on one day of the year? Why not make the act of sharing God's love through gifts something that we do throughout the year?

If we want to be consistent in our birthday gift giving, we should give Jesus gifts on His birthday. He doesn't need anything we can offer Him, but He asks us to offer Him worship and service. I think we should use this Christmas season to rededicate ourselves to God and to offer worship to Him.

When we have birthdays, the focus is on us. It is a celebration of our life up to this point. When Christmas rolls around, the focus is often on gifts and gift-giving. How many stressed out holiday shoppers are out there, scrambling to buy everything they need to give before the holiday comes? The focus should not be on the gifts; it should be on the ultimate Gift and the Giver.

I am absolutely not judging anyone who gives gifts on Christmas. If you can give and receive gifts without losing focus on the real reason for the season, more power to you! I am also definitely not advocating not celebrating Christmas. I believe that it is a very important and meaningful holiday that deepens our relationship with Christ. I am simply trying to provide some food for thought and hopefully help the body of Christ to become more like Him.

Does anyone have any thoughts on Christmas gift-giving?

~Mac

Jesus' Birthday!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas; I sure did!

We all have traditions that we do every year; one of my favorites is Jesus' birthday cake. This is a special cake because the way it is made is very symbolic.

^ The big red candle represents Jesus, the light of the world. The candle sits in the middle of a Star of David, showing Jesus's lineage, and the cake is round, symbolizing the earth. The hearts represent believers around the world, and the white frosting represents Jesus' righteousness covering us.

^ The bottom, dark layer represents the sin of the world. The red layer represents Jesus' atoning sacrifice for our sins, and the green layer represents new growth in Him.

We read the Christmas story, sing Silent Night and light our candles off of the big candle, showing that we are to take Jesus' Light into the world! We also sing the Happy Birthday Song, with different lyrics:

On the first Christmas day

From the Father above

Came the little Lord Jesus

To show us God's love!

Happy birthday to You!

Happy birthday to You!

We love you dear Jesus!

Happy birthday to You!

A wonderful reminder of the reason we celebrate Christmas, and a delicious one too! :-)

~Mac