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November 29, 2006

A simpler, more meaningful Christmas

I’ve been discovering a treasure trove of resources in my office in the last couple of weeks. One is Unplug the Christmas Machine by Robinson and Staeheli. These are the four things they say children really want for Christmas:

1. A relaxed and loving time with the family
2. Realistic expectations about gifts

3. An evenly paced holiday season

4. Reliable family traditions

Thinking through these four points so that we approach the Christmas season with some intentionality can help us enjoy it rather than “getting through it.”

Visit this address at SimpleLiving.org to see “10 Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas,.” and other good resources for thinking through how to approach the coming season.

http://www.simpleliving.org/indexoth.php?place=archives/MR/10tips.php

A number of years ago we began placing the Wise Men figures of our Foote family Creche scene at various points in the living room at the beginning of Advent and moving them closer to the Manger as Christmas approached. This took a toll on several of the Wise Men—one is now headless, another one is missing a hand—but I think it’s a good, concrete way to imagine them journeying toward Bethlehem. And our kids have always enjoyed moving them closer day by day. I think it mirrors our journey of faith over our lifetime. Every Advent and Christmas roles around with new meaning as we experience their themes at a different point in our lives.

Like so much of life, I’ve realized that Christmas is more about the journey, the process, rather than the destination. When we celebrate Christmas as part of the continuum of the Church Year, rather than a “festival of presents” it puts Christmas and its meaning into context.

One of the reasons I am Episcopalian is our Anglican emphasis on the Incarnation of Christ which celebrates how Christ became human, became one of us on Christmas. Jesus entered the world as a tiny, helpless infant, like us, totally dependent upon his mother and father’s care.

The Incarnation, the coming of Christ into the world, infuses our world with holiness. We can celebrate God’s being with us in the particularity of our lives, even the messiness of our everyday existence, because God chose to fully enter into it.

So this Advent and Christmas Season, I wish you the joy of letting the meaning of the Incarnation soak into your daily life as we journey together through Advent, Christmas and on into Epiphany.

Beth Foote
Family Ministries Director