Student Ministry December 2017
Dear Church Family,
This year, what are you going to get your kids or grandkids for Christmas? Have you thought about it much? Some of you are those people who have already bought presents for everyone on your Christmas list. I commend people like you, but I am not one of them. I have thought about some presents that I plan on getting, but I have yet to buy a single one. I have only had to buy presents the day before Christmas a couple of times, and it was not fun. Never has being a Christian in public been more difficult than when you are surrounded by people at the mall and Walmart who seem to know exactly how to pull the sin right out of you while “Holly Jolly Christmas” is playing through the overhead speakers. But this year, I will be sure to get my shopping done in a timely and Christlike fashion. I know when I plan to shop, what I’m planning on buying, and for whom I am buying. I have a plan, a purpose, and a goal this year when it comes to present shopping. But more importantly, I need to have a plan, a purpose, and a goal to worship Christ this Christmas season.
You probably saw that last line coming, but seriously; have we put as much time into planning how we are going to focus on Christ and bring him glory in our families and households as we have about what we’re going to buy and eat for Christmas this year? One year I spent some time in December in Southeast Asia in a Communist Country. They celebrated Christmas like you’ve never seen! They had decorations everywhere. People wished you Merry Christmas in every shop and had Christmas trees and even little nativity scenes next to their statues of Buddha. They exchanged Christmas presents and had Christmas parties galore. One might even argue that they celebrated Christmas better than we do in America. But when you asked someone what Christmas was about or what the nativity scene meant, no one could give you the right answer. They had no idea what Christmas was about and what significance it had for their lives. While many students and churchgoing people may be more capable of answering that question, I think its significance is largely missing in the heart and lives of many Christians this time of year and all throughout the year at that. Why do I think that? Because most people are more concerned with opening presents and eating food than with purposefully, intentionally talking about Christ with their families at Christmas-time. If so few people have intentional plans for talking about Christ at Christmas time, what do we think we will find in the normal ebb and flow of life outside of Christmas time?
Now, by no means is opening presents and eating food together a bad thing. It is glorious! But my point is that it is way too easy to do all the “Christmas” things without focusing on Christ. My encouragement and challenge to you is to think of ways to intentionally and purposefully talk about Jesus and the gospel as you do Christmassy things with your family. Your kids and grandkids need to hear and see you worshiping Jesus while you shop, and cook, and open presents. How can you do that? There are so many ways. But one thing my wife and I do is an Advent Wreath with candles that we light to represent different aspects of Christ’s coming. We light one candle a Sunday until Christmas day and we read scripture for each candle. Why do we do this? Because my parents did it with me and my siblings. It was one way that my parents kept me intentionally focused on Christ at Christmas time. If it is our goal to glorify Christ at Christmas and to do that all year round, then what is your plan to purposefully point your family to Christ this year? Make it fun, make it creative, but make it about Christ. He is the reason for the season, as we all say. So lets show the younger generation how to keep Christ in Christmas in a Christlike and loving way.
In Christ,
Brian Van Doren