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Do you think we could just keep it simple?

John Hatcher is pastor of Outreach International Center, 1091 South Jeff Davis Drive, Fayetteville, Georgia 30215. 770-719-0303

By John Hatcher
Contributing Writer

A member of my church stood and shared this past Sunday that he and his wife had learned that none of their three children would be coming home for Christmas for various and good reasons. It will be a first.

Then he went on to share that “family” is not the reason for the season. The real reason is Jesus Christ.

My, how God needs to forgive us for making so much to do about so much totally unrelated to the birth of the Savior.

We don’t seem to be able to have Christmas without a tree. Live trees and dead trees. This year because of our own busyness and sickness, we’ve elected to have a dead Christmas tree with its lights already strung.

Trees can cost a bundle. But, in the end, both dead and live trees can become a serious fire hazard and be responsible for burning everything down just around Christmas. But, we’ve got to have a tree!

And then there’s the list of presents we must buy if we are to stay on good terms with everyone. Office gifts. Gifts to the neighbors. Gifts to the postal and newspaper carriers. Gifts to school teachers and Sunday School teachers. Of course, most importantly, gifts to mama, daddy, husband, wife, children, sister, brother, uncle, aunt, special cousins, etc. And don’t forget the gifts to those special friends.

Now, get a perspective: don’t you think the thing of gift-giving has whirled out of hand more than a bit. After all, it’s not all those folks’ birthdays being celebrated. It’s Jesus’ birthday.

Decorations are a must for many. The more lights the better. Now we have inflated everything from Santa to reindeer. To tell you the truth, many of our decorations border on tacky. How do you compete with a star in the sky so bright it led the Wise Men all the way to the Christ child? Rather than one star, we’ve got twenty million lights.

The first Christmas experience had no decorations except a few animals and the night sky. Guess who is the happy beneficiary of the millions of lights? Why Georgia Power!

Oh yes, the feast one after another. The office party with the booze flowing. The Sunday School party with gluttony near by. You can have your feast catered for some big bucks or you can work like a slave and be completely tuckered out when your guests arrive.

We should remind ourselves that Christmas is not a license to be a pig, but an observance of forgiveness, love, and self-control. The first Christmas had nothing to do with food except the pure mother’s milk of Mary for baby Jesus.

Back to the family thing. The song, “I’ll be home for Christmas; you can count on me ...” somehow has given us the notion that it won’t be Christmas unless the family convenes. Reality check and honesty time: just how many family members absolutely dread getting together with all the members of the family? Remember last Christmas how Aunt SoSo showed her behind and how Uncle BillyBob got stoned out of his mind? It could be that most families tolerate one another at Christmas rather than enjoy one another. True or false?

Now, on to the real reason for the season: Jesus Christ, He just may be the key to unlocking the joy for all those things mentioned above which have a tendency to turn toward disaster. Just think if you bought gifts for only the people you really love and not those you have to endure?

What about keeping this year’s feast simple — as simple as it was that first Christmas night? What about a simple tree with a star on top? What about decorations that don’t require an entire closet to store?

What about imitating the shepherds of that first Christmas? Find more than one place of worship Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and spend the majority of your time praising and worshipping God. After all, that’s the real gift he wants: your heart alive with praise and adoration. Let’s clean up Christmas!

And a Merry Christmas to one and all. I love you!