Christmas greetings

Wherever we are, spread out all around the globe, come the 25th of Dec (and probably also the 24th), Christmas will overtake us. And whether its attending a mass in Barcelona, or sitting in a pew in US, or singing carols in LCGC in Liverpool, or running under the heavy rain in Malaysia, we'll each celebrate Christmas day in our own fashion.

Back in LCGC, when we had our Christmas event on Friday evening, I was struggling to think of how to present Christmas in a fresh and unpredictable way. "Surely," I told Ed, "Everyone must be so tired of the whole Christmas story about the virgin birth by now." But how could we re-produce the story of Christmas?

Two years ago, LCGC told the story of how Jesus' birth was actually a top-secret mission at the height of the battle in the heavenly realms for dominance. As Satan and his demons battled angels, Jesus was inserted into a manger in Bethlehem via the unlikely method of a human birth. And thus did God win the fight for our lives.


This time around, we'd run out of ideas.

In the end, maybe due to the fact that we were running out of time, the story of Christmas was re-told again, using the Message. Looking back, I think that was the right thing to do in the end. It may not have had the dramatic effect caused by an act or a play, or the expectancy generated by the telling of a fresh new story, but it had the distinct mark of something else.

It was the truth.

Jesus was really born all that time ago. Not really on the 24th of Dec perhaps, but there's the wonder of it. For in spite of all the controversy surrounding the origin of Christmas, two facts remain:
People celebrate the birth of Jesus.

It's a time where families and friends get together, where giving is more important than receiving, in short, where love is felt.

And this is the crucial point. Almost without a word or command from God, a time is set apart during the year to celebrate Jesus' birth, in an atmosphere of love. Isn't that striking? For Jesus' birth was the supreme act of love towards mankind. What better way to celebrate love, Godly love, than to remember His birth, and to share it with others in various ways this Christmas?

Happy Christmas to you guys, wherever you are!