How to prepare for Christmas

This verse from Isaiah is quoted in the New Testament to describe the preaching of John the Baptist in preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ. If you think about it, it teaches us how to prepare for Christmas.

Isaiah 40:3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God."

The same basic message is there for both Isaiah’s time and our time: to prepare for the coming of the Lord, we need to prepare the way, and make the paths straight. In ancient times, roads were not paved smooth like they are today. They were often very rough to travel. So when a king was coming, representatives would go ahead of the king and remove obstacles from the road, level off the road, and get it prepared for his visit. We see references to this in Isaiah 57:14 and 62:10. Just as ancient roads had obstacles that need to be removed to prepare for a king’s visit, so we have obstacles that need to be removed for us to prepare for Christmas. We need to remove the obstacle of commercialism. The retail industry has hijacked Christmas and tried to convince our culture that it is mandatory that we spend money at Christmas to truly celebrate it. They’ve made Christmas all about shopping and giving presents. We need to remove the obstacle of selfishness. Related to commercialism is the obstacle of selfishness. If we buy into the idea that Christmas is about shopping and gift-giving, we may fall into the further trap of thinking Christmas is about gift receiving. We start talking about “What I want for Christmas.” Then the emphasis becomes all about me: what I want for Christmas, what you should give me. We need to remove the obstacle of busyness. A third obstacle at Christmas is busyness. Many families spend the first part of December running from their child’s Christmas program at the elementary school to the children’s choir Christmas program at the church to their child’s ride on the float in the Christmas parade to the Christmas band concert at the high school to the adult choir Christmas program at the church to the husband’s staff office party to the children’s school party to the wife’s staff Christmas party to the Sunday School class Christmas party. Then they spend the last part of December running from the wife’s family to the husband’s family to the grandparents, and if there is a divorce, they may have to add the ex-wife or ex-husband’s family. And somewhere in the middle of all that, they try to squeeze in sending Christmas cards and going shopping. No wonder church attendance is no better in December than November, and sometimes it’s lower. Some people are too busy doing Christmas activities in December to come to Sunday worship in December! So how can we remove these obstacles and truly prepare ourselves for Christmas? We have to decide before it all begins that we will define our Christmas celebration by our faith, not by our culture. To overcome commercialism and selfishness, we need to have honest conversations with our families about our faith and what our budget is going to be for Christmas. Agree on budget limits. Draw names instead of giving everybody a gift. And if you really want to overcome selfishness, tell people to give a gift to missions in your name. And how do we overcome the busyness of Christmas? We decide ahead of time to say “no” to some activities, so that we can say “yes” to time with our families and time for worship. You do not have to attend every party, and you do not have to write a Christmas card to every cousin. Years ago at a former church, I tried to attend every Sunday School Christmas party. I was never home with my family! I finally decided I would not go to any Sunday School class Christmas parties that were in the evening, except for the one in my own class, and I would go to the deacons and wives banquet for widows and widowers. That’s it. Jesus the king has come. Wise men came to worship Him. Let’s prepare to celebrate His coming by removing the obstacles that block the way: obstacles of commercialism, selfishness and busyness. Clear the path so you can see Christ this Christmas!

Christmas lessons for hard times

The National Bureau of Economic Research has pronounced that we have been in a recession since December 2007. How can we rejoice at Christmas in hard times? What does the Christmas story have to say to people who have lost their jobs? What does it say to somebody who is in despair?

Here are four answers:

1) Let God lift you up. When Mary heard that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah, she sang that God "has lifted up the humble" (Luke 1:52). Elizabeth, the mother of the John the Baptist, even said that God "has taken away my disgrace" (Luke 1:25).

Ken Freeman had nine step-fathers, slept in streets, garages, alleys, bars and cars. His real dad walked out when he was four, and his mother became an alcoholic and started beating him. He was molested at seven and was drinking and smoking at nine, and in jail at fifteen. But at age sixteen, a friend introduced him to Jesus Christ, and now Ken Freeman is an evangelist. He says, "God can take a mess and make it a message."

Do you feel shame? God wants to lift you up.

2) Dare to dream. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream (Matthew 1:20) and also the wise men were warned in a dream not to go back to King Herod (Matthew 1:12). After the shepherds came to see baby Jesus, Mary treasured the events in her heart (Luke 2:19), and after the boy Jesus showed His knowledge of His Heavenly Father in the temple in Jerusalem, Mary kept all these things in her heart (Luke 2:51). They dared to dream that God would do amazing things.

Don't give up on your dreams.

3) Don't be afraid. Every time that an angel appeared to somebody in the Christmas story, he said, "Don't be afraid." The angel told Joseph not to fear (Matthew 1:20), the angel told Zechariah not to fear (Luke 1:13), the angel told Mary not to fear (Luke 1:30), and the angel told the shepherds not to fear (Luke 2:10).

What do you fear? Are you afraid of the future? The message of Christmas is that with Christ, you don't have to be afraid.

4) Look for God to surprise you. Often God is at work, but people aren't paying attention. When the wise men came to Jerusalem following the star, the people of Jerusalem had missed it (Matthew 2:1-2). When the shepherds came looking for Christ, they were told to look for an unusual sight-- a baby in a feeding trough (Luke 2:12).

After Hurricane Katrina, First Baptist Church of Rincon adopted the members of First Baptist Church of Poplarville, Mississippi to pray for them. Members of the Rincon church wrote letters of encouragement to every member of the church in Poplarville. Then a group of a dozen members went from Rincon to Poplarville, to help do yard clean-up. A lady from Rincon knocked on the door of the Luke family, and when Mrs. Luke answered the door, she said, "Hi, my name is Jan Miller. I'm from Rincon, Georgia, and we came to help you." Mrs. Luke began to cry. When she composed herself, she said, "I got a letter from a Jan Miller in Rincon, Georgia, saying she was praying for me. When I got the letter, I thought, 'That's nice, but I need somebody here to help me.' And now here you are standing at my door!"

That's the lesson of Christmas for hard times. God doesn't just sit up in heaven and say, "I care about you." He came down to earth to prove that He cares for us. He is Immanuel, "God with us" (Matthew 1:23). But are you looking for Him this Christmas?

Merry Christmas from the Rogers Family!

The Rogers family together for Christmas (minus our married daughter Melissa who is with her husband Steven and family in Virginia).
Standing: son Wade, daughter Lauren (on couch arm), me, Dad, nephew Adam, brother Todd, nephew Alan.
Seated: wife Mary, Mom, sister Nancy, Mabel (Nancy's teacup poodle), sister-in-law Kathy.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Christmas lights in rural Georgia

Just off the sparsely populated Sisters Ferry Road in rural Effingham County, Georgia, is a community that locals call "Tiger Ridge." In the neighborhood of mobile homes, the residents adorn everything, even the butane tank, with tens of thousands of Christmas lights. In these pictures you can see Santa and Mrs. Claus fishing in a boat, a Nativity scenes (there's a rooster on top that you can see if you look closely).

If you go, take Hwy 21 to Springfield, and after the intersection with Hwy 119, go about another mile to another traffic light, then turn right, and after you go under the narrow bridge, turn back sharply to the left on Old Dixie Highway. Go a few miles, then turn right on Sisters Ferry Road. Go about four miles until you see a sign pointing to the left down a dirt road, saying "Lights." A short distance back on the dirt road you will see the lights. Be prepared to sign the "guest book," as the residents will come to your car and ask you to sign a spiral notebook. There is no charge, although the residents do sell home cooked items like molasses.

Movie review: "The Nativity Story"

I finally saw The Nativity Story this weekend with my wife and son. So how was it? Here's my grade:

Biblical accuracy: A-

The movie is faithful to the basic story, using the exact words of scripture when the angel appears to Mary, Joseph's dream, Elizabeth's words to Mary, etc. The wise men are accurately depicted as astrologers and religious scholars, not kings. King Herod is correctly shown as the brutal and insanely jealous tyrant that he was. However, the movie shows the wise men arriving at the manger on the night Jesus was born, even though Matthew's gospel indicates that they arrived up to two years later (Matthew 2:7, 16), and by then they were living in a house, not a stable (Matthew 2:11).

Scenery and costumes: A+

The move is a visual feast. You truly feel as if you are in first-century Palestine. The costumes and scenery are as realistic as any biblical movie I have seen, including The Passion of the Christ.

Acting and drama: B

This was my biggest disappointment. It lacked the power and intensity of The Passion of the Christ. While the acting is not bad, it is not great, either. There are some good one-liners, such as when Joseph and Mary are headed out of Nazareth for their journey to Bethlehem, and as they see the judgmental looks of the townspeople who think Mary has an illegitimate baby, Joseph says with a smirk, "They'll miss us." The wise men almost steal the show with their humor, such as when a third wise man decides to join them at the last minute, saying, "You forgot the map." However, at several places the acting seemed to lack enthusiasm. Mary and Joseph do not seem to get very excited about seeing an angel, and the shepherds come to the manger and just stare. My family said they were trying to show them in awe, and I suppose that's true, but the shepherds don't even seem very excited when the angel announces the birth of Christ. Despite these disappointments, there are some very nice touches to the story. There are several foreshadows of Jesus' future ministry, such as when Mary washes Joseph's tired feet on their journey to Bethlehem, and when Joseph sees the sellers in the temple and said it should not be that way, for the temple should be a house of prayer. The movie does an excellent job of showing the emotional pain of Mary and Joseph and Mary's family in dealing with the mystery of the virgin birth, and this will probably open the eyes of many Christians who had not thought about how hard that was for them at the time. And while I was critical of the movie director's decision to show the wise men arriving at the same night as Jesus' birth because of its biblical inaccuracy, I must admit that one of the best theatrical elements of the movie was how they go back and forth between the wise men traveling and Joseph and Mary traveling, with everybody arriving at the same time.

Musical score: A

The music was beautiful and moving, and helped to draw an emotional response at the right times. I especially like the subtle use of tunes to Christmas carols at several points.

Overall, I highly recommend the movie to truly appreciate the real meaning of Christmas. I certainly plan to buy it when it comes out on DVD. My son said, "Now I have a picture of it in my mind." Given the accuracy of the costumes and scenery, and faithful reverence of the movie, it's a picture I'm glad he has in his mind.

The Nativity Story is rated PG due to some violence (King Herod's men killing innocent children of Bethlehem, although no blood or gore is shown).

PETA doesn't like live nativity scene

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) recently targeted a Methodist Church in Alaska, accusing the church of being cruel to animals by exposing them to the Alaska cold in their live nativity scene.

The only problem is that the church only has live people, not live animals. I guess PETA didn't bother to check their facts. Or maybe they don't care if people get cold, just as long as animals don't suffer.

Herein is where PETA misses the whole point of Christmas. God created everything, including the animals, and we should care for them. But people are God's highest creation, made in His image. Christ didn't come at Christmas to save animals, He came to save people.