As I sit down to write this, it is not yet Christmas. By the time you read this, it will be after Christmas. It will still be the Christmas season as the Christmas season actually begins on Dec. 25 and goes to Jan. 6.

Yes, that is the 12 days of Christmas. The four weeks leading up to Christmas is the Advent season. This really is a special time of the year.

We come together with family and friends and take part in traditions that have developed over the years. At my house, we go to Christmas Eve communion services and then sit down to a large feast of sandwiches and all the things that go with them including homemade cookies. We stay up late and watch Ralphy ask for a Red Ryder BB gun only to be told the classic line, “You’ll shoot your eye outkid.” We also watch Chevy Chase put 25,000 lights on his house. Before the kids go to bed we will read “The Night Before Christmas.” Of course, at this point we have already bought presents and wrapped them. I usually put toys together on Christmas Eve night as I watch the different Christmas movies. I got a jump on things this year. I already put the bikes together.

Of all the traditions we take part in at this time of the year, it is the giving and receiving of gifts that is the most widespread. Christmas would not seem the same without this. Actually this can cause a great deal of stress. First we go to the mall or to Walmart or some other place. You have to hunt for a parking space and deal with all the trauma that can occur during that process. Last week a man pulled across theparking lot, passed me and then cut in front of me to take a parking spot I was not even going to park in.

He did wave to me though, he just didn’t use all of his fingers when he waved. If you are the person that did this, then Merry Christmas to you and relax and it will be all right. When you finally make it into the store, there are crowds and lineseverywhere. It seems that when you do find the gift that is just right, it is always sold out even though the display is still there. My wife wonders why I don’t like shopping, go figure.

It is a lot of work and a lot of stress, but seeing everyone’s faces on Christmas morning makes it worth it. Unfortunately the new toys get broken and parts get lost and that sweater that seemed so nice ended up shrinking two sizes the first time it was washed. Well, that is how it goes.

Actually, as big a part of Christmas as all these things are, they are not really what is important.

What is important is that God stepped out of Eternity and became one of us so that He would be a God that we could relate to and know that He really does understand what we experience as humans. God came into this world in the humble form of a newborn baby. Through this baby, humanity was offered grace and mercy. Through this baby the enslaved would be set free, the broken would be made whole, the weak would be made strong, and the outcast would be made heirs to a New Kingdom.

This is a gift that many were not ready for. It was unlike anything the world had ever seen. The Christ child born in Bethlehem and placed in a manger was the greatest gift the world has ever seen. This is what is really important at Christmas. God’s plan for salvation was brought to life. This gift has been given to you and it is just the right size, please don’t keep it all to yourself.

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Editor’s note: Brian Timmons is the pastor of Pea Ridge and Brightwater Methodist churches. He can be contacted at 925-0167 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Church, Pages 2 on 12/29/2010