Have you been hearing the typical Christmas questions—What do you want for Christmas? What do you think you’re getting for Christmas? What are you doing for Christmas? Before the month is out, these questions will be asked the world over, generating a myriad of emotions! A buzz of expectation builds as people everywhere anticipate the realization of their imaginations, many silently feeling the pressure to “make this our best Christmas ever.” As if year after year, we have to “one up” ourselves with some illusive improvement on the year before!

But wait! We’ve started to interrupt this idealistic sort of thinking to ask a different type of question—“what about this notion of best Christmas ever?!”

In November, Advent Conspiracy interrupted our thinking by challenging us to celebrate Christmas in a counter-cultural way: Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All. We dared to “...remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35b, NLT). We started down a path that confounds the empty hype and hopes of finding “the best Christmas ever” shopping online or under a bejeweled tree.

This month, we’ll see how real lives were interrupted in order for “the best Christmas ever” to become a possibility. Ordinary people in the original story were intruded upon in a variety of circumstances by a transcendent God, challenging them in ways that were counter-intuitive to human thinking. This month we’ll look closely at Zechariah & Elizabeth, the shepherds, the angels, Simeon & Anna, Joseph & Mary. Along the way, these real people might have felt threatened, confused, or abandoned by God. Instead, in the moments of divine interruptions, they were able to let go of preconceived thinking and cultural correctness to find God’s true gifts: hope, peace, joy, faith, and love wrapped up in the promised gift of Christ.

This year, we will hear the typical questions and sense the buzz of holiday madness and glitz. We’ll make cookies, watch football, and hope for laughter and surprise. But let’s not settle there. As life plans are interrupted along the way, let’s look to the Christmas Story and ask, “what hidden gifts are wrapped up here?” Maybe we’ll be surprised to experience the realization of God’s imagination – the Gift of Christ—inviting Him into our homes in new ways to make this our best Christmas ever!

LIFE INTERRUPTED
    … by Hope · Sunday, December 6
    … by Peace · Sunday, December 13
    … by Joy · Sunday, December 20
    … by Love · Wed., December 23 & Thurs., December 24
    … by Faith · Sunday, December 27