Something New

Today on the way home from school Gabriel told me he wanted to talk about the upcoming holidays.  He told me he wanted to trick or treat this year on Halloween, he wanted HAM not turkey for Thanksgiving, and this year for Christmas he doesn't want to learn about Mary and Joseph AGAIN!

I told him I thought he could trick or treat in our neighborhood this year, now that we have neighbors and I've met most of them.  I'm not sure about the ham situation for Thanksgiving, but I'll happily consider it.  But when I got to the Christmas request, I asked "now what do you mean you don't want to hear about Mary and Joseph?

Since I do advent differently each year, I thought maybe he was just saying he didn't want to learn about Christmas through songs again or read different verses each night.  I needed clarification.

He said "I've heard about Mary and Joseph for 8 years now, I want to learn something new".
"Oh, and another thing, I don't want to hear about Jesse's root either!"

I was laughing so hard inside, I chose to stay silent for a few minutes rather than let on that I was super entertained by his request.

I finally gathered myself and asked what he would like to learn about instead.
He replied "something new".
"Like what?"
"I don't know, just something new".

The thing of it is there is nothing new.
People may create new Christmas traditions and write new Christmas movies, we can come up with  new ways of celebrating, decorating, and gift giving, but THE Christmas story is unchanging.

It is thousands of years old.  There are no new characters or wild twists.
The only possible thing that can change, is the way you hear it.

Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem on a donkey, gave birth to a baby in a stable, and named his Jesus.   Shepherds who were not to far away in a field were greeted by an angel announcing the birth of a king and wise men, those who sought answers in the sky, located a star that settled where this king was.  The boy pretty much disappeared from the pages of history until one day he rode a donkey into Jerusalem and the stage was set for Jesus to be crucified, die, and raise again in order to atone for the sins of the world.

You may hear this story and consider setting up a nativity next to your Santa's workshop display and your Christmas tree.
Or you may hear this story and be amazed the God loved the world so much that he sent his one and only son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish but live forever.
You may hear the story and be impressed that the events surrounding this one man were prophesied hundreds of years in advance and proven true through his birth, death, and resurrection.
You may hear this story and be amazed that a man, who is God, suffered and died because your sins are so many and so frequent that you can't possibly make a sufficient sacrifice on your own.
You may hear this story and be astounded that God's grace is so great, that He gives you each new day despite of the way you used up yesterday or the day before.

After thinking about it for a bit,  I think I may have been wrong.  I guess there are new characters and new twists.  Sure its the same Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and Angels, but new characters do come along in the form of people who hear and choose to believe, and the new twists come when they choose to follow.

Comments

Allison said…
I am excited to see what your clever brain comes up with! And I'm reminded of your 2012 awesomeness & will look back and borrow those songs from the archives.

Popular Posts