The Reason for the Season
In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman World. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was Governor of Syria. And everyone went to his own town to register.
I don’t get goosebumps over ancient Roman history often, but every time I hear these words, say these words or read these words, I still tingle. *The* Christmas story.
As a boy, I attended a Lutheran parochial school, first in Clatonia, then in Plymouth. Each Christmas season, the rest of the students and I conducted the entire hour-long Christmas Eve service, so the recitations of Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6, Micah 5:2 and of course, Luke 2, have stuck with me to this day.
As the father of five unique young minds at home, I am always worrying that I am doing enough to feed their souls. They go to Sunday school and they attend a weekly after-school program put on by our church. We pray regularly at home and talk about God, but it’s a tough world and you’re often left wondering, “Are they getting the message?”
Christmas time draws that out further for me. The kids know that we’re really celebrating Jesus’ birthday - they’re smart enough to insist we have a cake - but it’s easy to get wrapped up in all of the “stuff” about Christmas and then forget exactly why we’re celebrating, especially when you’re a child.
Then I received a picture from my daughter’s journal at school. In it, my kindergartner drew a picture of a Christmas tree and wrote “my favorite part about Christmas is loving Jesus.”
Folks, I cried. It wasn’t that I was proud of her. Well, I was a little proud of how much her handwriting had improved. But my tears were born from joy and thanks. I often feel like a failure in setting the example a Christian father should. I know I’m not the disciple to my children that I could be and should be. But God is working in them anyway.
We’re taught to have the faith of a child. My daughter has faith in a lot of things. She has faith that Santa will arrive before she wakes up Christmas morning. She has faith that she’ll have clothes to wear, food to eat, a bed to sleep in (when she’s not trying to camp out on our floor) and that when she awakes each morning, she can go about her day as care-free and happy-go-lucky as she wants to. But she’s also armed with the faith that Jesus is the greatest gift ever given and that helps this father rest easy at night.
Christmas in many ways is a hassle. My wife and I came to the realization that we were not done Christmas shopping last weekend, so we snuck away for a couple hours while the kids hung out with grandma and grandpa at a family Christmas we traveled to. Now this week, the FedEx and UPS delivery folks are wearing out my door. I don’t know where it all ends. I just hope they like half their stuff so I can feel like I didn’t light all that money on fire.
While it’s a hassle, though, Christmas should also be joyful and it is so for many reasons, not the least of which are the smiles on my five’s faces Christmas morning.
But my biggest hope for this Christmas is that we can all embrace the faith and joy of this special time for the ultimate reason.
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in a manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
May you all be filled with the joy of the real reason for the season. The Gerlachs wish you a Merry Christmas.
