'Twas the week before Christmas but nobody knew,
No stockings, no ornaments, no gifts or good news.
All the world had lost hope; all the people felt fear.
Now listen; I'll tell you why Christmas came here.
Has your heart ever had a big secret to share?
A surprise no one knew that you planned with much care?
Did it tickle your tummy? Were you so excited?
God, too, has a mystery; and we're each invited.
From long, long ago our God knew what we'd need;
In the Garden of Eden, He planted the seed.
Like a scavenger hunt, He left hints through the years
How to find His great gift, Who was soon to be here.
(the Narrator in What God Wants For Christmas excerpted from FamilyLife)
Around Christmastime, one of the rituals in which our family has participated in years past was that of opening up our storage boxes containing Christmas tree ornaments. We would take things out of their containers and then consider out loud together how we might specifically trim the tree for the occasion at hand. We would at times set the scene beforehand and build the experience up as a great and wonderful adventure to unearth things from the past. What wonders we might find in the vast numbers of various possibilities of trimmings awaiting for us to rediscover amidst the sea of boxes large and small all spread out across the living room floor!
While our practice of this yuletide rite may seem simple and ordinary enough to reenact, there was for us in this blessed event a special aspect that served as an opportunity for us to be drawn closer to one another in Christ at Christmas. In this case, it involved not only the physical task of finding and putting the various ornaments in place upon the tree, but the mental, spiritual and emotional exercise of remembering the significance of each piece and its association with a particular treasured memory in our common journey(s) of faith together.
One remembrance comes to mind of a Christmas prior to our having children when we as a couple had but only a few ornaments to choose from. Among the precious items laid out on our apartment's beautiful hardwood floor was a Christmas tree ornament from a previous trip to a place out west where we had spent some time by the ocean. Melissa and I loved to walk along various coastlines and visit lighthouses by the sea. It was on one of these our earlier travels when we discovered she was bearing the first seed of our blessed union. Little did we know, that seed would be the first of six blessings for us to bless others with from above.
I was recently asked why it is that in our annual Christmas Eve Service of Lessons & Carols we first include narrative readings from near the beginning of the Old Testament book of Genesis—the account of Adam and Eve. My initial response was that according to the Holy Scriptures, Jesus Christ is referred to in the New Testament as the second Adam. That is, "Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come," (Romans 5:14) however sinned; whereas Christ, who was, and is, and is yet to come again, instead obeyed. As we may read further in Paul's letter to the saints in Rome:
"Yes, Adam's one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ's one act of righteousness makes all people right in God's sight and gives them life.
Because one person disobeyed God, many people became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many people will be made right in God's sight."
Romans 5:18-19 (NLT)
Along with my first responsive inclination, Jesus is also referred to at the beginning of the Bible as the seed of the woman, Eve when God addresses the serpent:
"And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed ; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." Genesis 3:15 (NAS)
Because of both the first and second Adam, and especially God's seed of the woman, Eve in Christ who sets us free from sin and the enemy of our souls, we beloved are delivered to be "children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God" from above (John 1:13). Jesus, God's Seed of Christ in Christmas celebrates us as God's own dearly loved ones, even as we celebrate the Christ child at Christmas. May the truth and reality of our spiritual identity be made more so evident for you and yours this Christmas.
In Christ Jesus,
Pastor Rex
