Christmas is really worth celebrating

Type Christmas into Google images and a long way down the page, after every conceivable kind of glitter, tree, Santa, reindeer, present and food you will eventually find this picture; someone’s home Nativity Scene, the REAL Christmas.

What is it we celebrate at this most popular and misunderstood season? Gift. Not prettily wrapped, costing the earth, and not quite what we wanted, but even more costly than that, wrapped in humility, and providing exactly what we need.

God’s gift to us of the Christ-child was an act of selfless, sacrificial love; God chose to come to earth in the person of a vulnerable baby, to show us how to live and die, and to bring us the promise of eternal life.

Christmas is an annual reminder of Immanuel – God IS with us right here and right now. God loves us, always, without limit and without end. God wants us to share His love with a needy world.

God’s love reminds us that it is people rather than things which really matter; it is the wonder of creation rather than what we can get out of it; it is hope for all for the future rather than the quickest, biggest buck I can make for myself.

Christmas is really worth celebrating.