A Face-to-Face Encounter! (Shopping Online Vs. Shopping In a "Real Store")

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at our house. The Christmas tree is up.  The lights are on. The Christmas music is playing.  And, the packages are showing up at the front door!

Yes, I’ll admit it: I did a bunch of shopping on Cyber-Monday.  That’s right, Monday night I got on my computer and shopped at Amazon and on a bunch of other websites.  After all, for the diversity of things I bought, it was not just about better prices but about the time it would have taken me to go from store to store, look through the shelves, try to get a salesperson to find an item for me, etc.  It’s true, shopping online can be not only a means of saving money, but also saving time and energy.  Yet I find, there is something missing.

For me, Christmas shopping is meant to be an experience. There’s something about getting out with the crowds, talking with a salesperson, chatting with that person behind you while standing on line. There’s something about shopping in person and being with the people around you—even if it’s just complaining about the weather or how long the line is.  There’s something about having a face-to-face encounter with real people in a real store.  (That’s why I’ve saved some shopping to do in real stores in the week to come.)

If you think about it, that’s what Christmas is all about: a face-to-face encounter--real people meeting a real God!  When God wanted to communicate his great love for us, he didn’t send us a message through a third party like an angel.  He didn’t create a new form of technology or write it out in the stars. Rather, God sent his Son, “the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3).  As the Apostle John put it, “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14) and “God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son.” (John 3:16) Or, as the Bible says, Jesus is "Emmanuel," that is "God with us!"   Jesus, God’s Son, came that we might hear from God himself; that we might have a face-to-face encounter with God.

In an age when social media, online shopping, and the incredibly fast pace of our society keeps us locked up in our homes behind our screens, let’s not forget the importance of being with each other—i.e. having face-to-face encounters with one another. More than that, let’s remember that Christmas is all about God himself coming to us in a very personal way. Through Jesus we have been given the opportunity to have a face-to-face encounter with God!

Have a great day!

Pastor Tim Harris