With Thanksgiving a pleasant and distant memory, we are now in the midst of our search for Christmas. Search? What search, you might ask. Isn’t it still on for December 25 like it is every year? Well, according to a popular contemporary song of the Christmas season, “Where Are You Christmas?” from the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), this might be in question…well, at least for the Grinch and perhaps some others… No, not the date, but more importantly, discovering or maybe rediscovering our relationship with Christmas and how it’s been affected through changes over time. Faith Hill beautifully sings our song, which is an honest and sincere plea, and our movie expands this search into the magic and truth of Christmas that takes us beyond childhood and the material things of life. How the Grinch Stole Christmas, while not an orthodox religious movie, is enriched by traditional Christmas carols and some important Christian/Biblical themes such as family, community, love, kindness, joy, repentance, forgiveness, transformation, and redemption. These are at the core of God’s design and at the heart of humanity’s need and ultimate search for truth, purpose, belonging, and relevance – and they played an important role in converting the Grinch from the arch nemesis of Christmas to one of its most ardent and enthusiastic celebrants.
Where are you, Christmas? Are you in the departments of stores where scores of people have been searching for that perfect gift and Santa is poised to please? Are you on the Internet where multitudes of people are cruising through websites to find that certain gift and doing so to avoid the crazy Christmas rush? Are you in the grocery stores where the same people will be searching for the ingredients for that festive Christmas dinner and perfect dessert? Are you in homes where people will be searching for just the right words to include in the Christmas cards or e-mail greetings to those family and friends, some of whom we haven’t seen or been in touch with for a while – perhaps since last Christmas? Are you in the homes where a Christmas tree is beautifully adorned with special family ornaments and completed with presents stacked underneath and around? Are we even searching for you in the right place(s) and at the right time? Where are you Christmas? Why can’t I find you?
Christmas, in the traditional sense, is not mentioned in nor explicitly commanded by the Bible to be formally recognized or celebrated. However, the advent of Jesus Christ on this earth does implicitly demand that humanity pause, take special notice, and follow the account of the Christ child from beginning to end in His terrestrial sojourn here. The essential and eternal relevancy of this journey does not begin nor end with the earthly advent of Jesus Christ as the baby in a manger. This was but a means to God’s greater purpose: His arrival in the hearts of all He came to save through His obedience to the Father in a labor of love wrought with adversity, suffering, torture, agony, and finally – death on a cross. However, it wasn’t final. Three days later, Jesus’ glorious resurrection as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords gave Him and each one of us victory: Victory over sin…Victory over death!
Claiming that victory, responding to Jesus’ arrival and the fruition of his walk among us, is a choice each of us is called on to either accept or reject. Will our hearts be the Bethlehem for the personal birth that He wants us to experience and to celebrate? If Jesus is known to us only as the baby in a manger, then He is no more to us than a seasonal stranger. The discovery of ‘Where are you Christmas’ can be found only by seeking out the ‘WHO are you Christmas.’ Will our search focus exclusively or primarily on reviving our commitment to those activities and customs that traditionally characterize and dominate the traditional Christmas holiday, as even the Grinch understood? Or, will it focus first and foremost on the true Author of those qualities that drew humanity and the Grinch himself closer to Christmas?
God’s search for you and me and His plan for our salvation took the form and sacrifice of His only begotten Son. Where will our search lead? By the end of our movie, even the Grinch, in his own search, came to realize that “Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.” Indeed it does, Mr. Grinch! He knew then, as you and I and most everyone in Whoville knew: The real Christmas transcends all time and changes and could never be stolen…only given away as the ultimate Gift.
Christmas is not so much about a time or a place but, above all else, God’s love and amazing grace and offer of redemption transcending time and place – paid for by the baby who, from the beginning, was destined to be the suffering servant, the ultimate and final sacrifice for our sins, and the risen Savior who came to earth in search of us first (Luke 19:10). May this truth persevere through the festivities of the season and may it lead us to the true answer of our song’s sincere and timeless question: Where are you Christmas?
By Jeff Olson
Jeff Olson, Author
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Thank you, Jeff. Beautifully said.