Next-Wave Ezine > church & culture

‘Tis the Season
By Sean Michael Murphy

I was asked sometime in October to give someone my Christmas list. “You want my Christmas list now?” “Yes.” “You mean a list of all the things I want for Christmas?” “Yep.” “You know it’s not for a couple of months, right?” “I just want your list.” “In October?” “That’s what I’m saying”. This is what Christmas is about in my world. People give lists of things they want and later complain that they can’t find anything on anybody’s list. That’s how we celebrate the Christmas season.

For Thanksgiving we get together and eat turkey and play ping-pong. At some point someone will say, “Let’s go around the table and say one thing we’re thankful for”. That’s usually followed by a couple of smiles and a couple of the guys rolling their eyes.

In short, we’re a typical American household that celebrates the holidays by eating food, playing games and opening presents. It’s actually a lot of fun. I just wonder if there might be more.

To be honest with you, I’m one of the people who roll their eyes when we’re asked to name one thing we’re thankful for. I get just as wrapped up as the next person in checking things off the list others gave me. I get frustrated in what the holidays become, but I go right along with it. I give in to commercialism and comfort and “the way we’ve always done it!”

So this is my early New Years resolution. I’m going to honor the holidays this year. I’m going to spend November making lists of the things I’m thankful for. Psychologists have been telling us for years that one of the great things anyone can do for mental health is keep such a list. Scripture tells us, “…anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things” (Phil 4:8) Instead of rolling my eyes at the idea of going around a table talking about what I’m thankful for, maybe I should spend each day being with, remembering and appreciating those things. I wonder if my attitude would change, I wonder if I would treat people differently.

I’m guessing that my attitude could use some changing. I think it starts with focus. The book of Romans tells us that the greatest gift we could ever hope to receive is the gift of Eternal life (Rom. 6:23). I get that some people really soak in the idea that upon Jesus’ incarnation, He was given gifts and His life was celebrated. The thing is, most of the folks I talk to aren’t giving X-boxes, TMX Elmo and new clothes for those reasons on Christmas morning. They’re drowning in batteries for games, filling trash bags with wrapping paper and giving out receipts in case something doesn’t fit.

So this Christmas season I’m going to spend December re-reading the Gospels. I’ll ask the 5 W’s and 1 H (who, what, where, why, when and how) as I try to involve myself in the story. If I were Joseph, how would I have reacted had I learned how and why my fiancé was pregnant? Who knew that Jesus was the Savior? Why did the wise men bring myrrh (actually kind of an interesting bit of information on that one). I might even reflect on how incredible it is that God would send his one and only son to this broken planet to ultimately give up His life for us.

I’m also going to spend my holidays soaking in my family. I’ll live each day alive in the reality that I have an incredible wife and children that do and say some pretty amazing things. We’ll wrap presents at the mall and put turkey dinners together at the church. We’ll pray over a box of donuts as we drive out to our local Wal-Mart and give them to a cashier that might not be too excited about working on Christmas Eve. We’ll put some time into thinking through presents we’ll donate to the Christmas store in Over the Rhine.

I know that’s a little different than obsessing about how much my spending limit is for each person and what size sweater grandma wears…but I’m willing to give it a shot.

We could all go on a rant about how the holidays aren’t about consumerism, Santa Claus, eating turkey or making lists of every electronic gizmo that you’ve just, “gotta have!”. Let’s not talk about all of the things the holidays are not about and focus instead on what we can celebrate in the coming months.

This holiday season CAN be about something different, something better. Ultimately these are things I can do as a follower of Jesus. He’s called me to something more. I just pray that I’ll keep my eyes on Him and not all of the stuff that seems to distract me during these next couple of months.

How about you?

Sean Michael Murphy is the Director of Outreach at the Vineyard Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the director of Young Life in State College, PA and Middletown, Oh. for ten years before joining the staff of the Vineyard. He's the father of three and the husband of one. He's also an excellent speller.