I CAN’T be the only one who’s noticed the number of “free” nights I have each week is rapidly reducing, the to-do list is growing and my children are strategically placing toy catalogues around the house.
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It can mean only one thing – Christmas is approaching.
I love Christmas. I love the excitement, the gifts, the food, even the decorations.
As a Christian this is also a deeply important time of the year in my spiritual life to celebrate the birth of Christ. It’s a time of additional church events and carol services. It’s a time when many Australians who are not typically churchgoers choose to come and worship.
As a minister, I encourage all of this.
Nevertheless, I was reminded recently that for many in our community Christmas can be a difficult time. For some it’s a time of missing family and friends, of struggling with finances, of working through while “every body else” is on holidays.
I wonder what it could like this this year if we all decided that amid the chaos and fun of Christmas, we all intentionally slowed down, allowed our lives to be interrupted and looked out for others who maybe aren’t doing so well.
Is there a neighbour we could invite to Christmas dinner, a friend to bless with a Christmas hamper or a family member who needs assistance with their shopping?
It seems to me that allowing my world to be interrupted long enough to care for others is one of the most Christ-like things I could do this Christmas. After all, isn’t that what we are celebrating - Jesus allowing himself to be interrupted enough to leave heaven and serve humanity?
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:5-7).
