From Turkeys to Christmas Trees!

The changeover has taken place! It’s no longer about the big turkey dinner, decorations of  orange and brown, and cornucopia centerpieces. Now it’s about lights and trees, red and green, the gifts and cards, poinsettias, wreaths and carols. Thanksgiving has given way to Christmas! 

If you ask me, it happened so fast. The day after Thanksgiving the ornaments were being set on the tree in the corner of our living room—and on the small one in our family room that is just for the grandchildren. A couple of days later the lights were on display in front of the house and the wreath put on the door. Before you knew it, our home had been fully given over to Christmas.  No more Thanksgiving decorations…it’s time for Christmas! 

If you think about it, that’s the way it has always been with Christmas. After all, on the night Jesus was born a new period of time was inaugurated. History was divided. The old era was gone and a new one had come. For with the birth of Jesus, God’s gracious gift of salvation was being offered, not just to some, but to all. 

The Apostle Paul put it this way, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.  Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”  (Galatians 4:4-7 – NIV) 

In other words, with the birth of Jesus came the hope of redemption, salvation, and life as children of God. If we will put our faith in him, all of those things become ours. It will be as if the page has turned from one season into the next. Thus, Paul’s words, “…if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) 

Yes, the season has changed over so quickly. We are now full-throttle into the Christmas season. It’s a wonderful time of the year. My hope, however, is that each of us would experience not just the changing of a season, but more so the change that Jesus’ birth was meant to bring to our hearts and lives. 

Have a great day! 

- Pastor Tim Harris