Every Christmas there is one dud gift. It’s the bottle of “Mr. Bubble” from the aunt that can’t grasp we grew up. The box of fudge for the diabetic. The department store underwear. It’s the last gift to be opened, and the first to be omitted when you answer the post-Christmas question, “What did you get for Christmas?”
A dud gift lies forgotten in the back of a closet. It gets sent to Goodwill.
I wonder if Jesus ever feels like a dud gift. Christmas busyness removes him to the back shelf of our attention, to the bottom of our Christmas list. God forbid! We choose how to observe Christmas. Let our homes go undecorated, but don’t let us neglect to worship Emmanuel, God With Us, the Glory, Hope, and Joy of the World.
One way to keep Christ in Christmas is by daily advent Scripture readings. You can read through the accounts of Jesus’ birth in Matthew and Luke and look back at the references to Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Listen to music that focuses on the Christmas story. Christmas devotions can be found online, like http://www.d365.org/followingthestar/ and elsewhere.
We need to move beyond both buying into and decrying secular Christmas materialism. Every crass ad and massive inflatable Santa can serve to remind us of the Word that became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth.
