From the Pastor’s Heart

A recent trip to Virginia to visit our daughter and her family turned out to be very educational. The first evening we were there our grandson, Mac and I took the dogs for their early evening walk. I noticed a couple of the homes had colored lights strung around their doorways. I exclaimed, “Look Mac, Christmas lights!” He immediately responded, “No ‘Kistmas’ lights, Pappy!” And then he said something I could not understand. I naturally corrected my grandson asking, “Don’t you remember Christmas lights?” Aha! This was a perfect opportunity for some Christian education. I then went on to explain, “We put Christmas lights up to celebrate Jesus’ birth.” He just looked at me and said, “I’m telling my dad!” “Go ahead and tell your dad,” I said. “Pappy knows something about Jesus and Christmas.” Mac was now upset and said with a huff, “No ‘Kistmas’ lights Pappy!” And with that proclamation our conversation ended. He refused to engage in any more conversation about Christmas lights.

When we returned home I told my son-in-law, I tried to teach Mac about the Christmas lights that are decorating a couple of the homes but he got upset and insisted they are not Christmas lights.” Matt simply said, “He is right. They are not Christmas lights. They are Dewali lights.” “Dewali lights? What are Dewali lights?” I asked. He explained that in the Hindu tradition there is a celebration of lights called the Dewali Festival. When we got home I researched it on the Internet and found that the Dewali Festival is by far the most glamorous and important Hindu festival—the festival of lights. During this five day festival gifts are given and sweets are an important part of the festival diet. Sure enough my almost 3 year-old grandson had taught his old Pappy a lesson. Dewali lights, that is what Mac was trying to say to me. I have to admit I had never heard of them.

Here we are in the Advent season and quickly approaching Christmas. I wonder how many of us will miss the true meaning of this very holy season as I didn’t understand the Dewali lights?

It is like the little boy who returned from Sunday school with a new perspective on the Christmas story. He’d learned all about the wise men form the East who brought gifts to the baby Jesus. He was so excited; he could hardly wait to tell his parents.

As soon as the boy arrived home, he immediately began: “I learned all about the very first Christmas in Sunday school today! There wasn’t a Santa Claus way back then, so these three skinny guys on camels had to deliver all the toys! And Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, with his nose so bright, wasn’t there yet, so they had to have this big spotlight in the sky to find their way around!”

Even as adults we often end up not quite getting the meaning of the first Christmas. Matthew describes the gift of the season of Advent with a single word, my favorite of all the Christmas words—Emmanuel, God with us. Not God HAS BEEN with us, not God WILL BE with us; but God WITH US, RIGHT NOW, TODAY!

God didn’t send his Son to give us a sentimental holiday: he came to save us from sin. He didn’t come because we are nice people; but because we are lost people; and because if Jesus hadn’t come, we could never be found.

If we let ‘Merry Christmas’ become simply ‘Seasons Greetings,’ and if the ‘holy day’ becomes just a holiday—-well, it will be as if the shepherds leaving the manger had told their friends, “We’ve just seen the cutest little baby boy!” And as if the wise men had sent a congratulatory letter rather than traveled weeks in order to bring their gold, frankincense and myrrh.

My grandson taught me a great lesson about Dewali lights. Christmas, however, is not a lesson that we learn. Christmas is something we experience. May we hear and experience the angels great proclamation:

“And in that region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord.’”

I know you have heard the story. Have you experienced it?

Christmas Blessings,

Pastor Russel