Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas. Here is a greeting spoken often and to many through out these days. We say it in passing, we say it to loved ones, we say it to strangers we meet on the street. We even sing about wishing people a "merry christmas."

Have you ever stopped and wondered what exactly does it mean to wish others a "merry Christmas."

There is so much caught up in that little phrase, that simple greeting, that catchy little phrase that sets the heart a blaze and fills the lives of many with joy and peace and brings forth rejoicing.

There is for lack of better words a bit of magic in that little phrase, two little words combined that bring a smile to those too numerous to count.

Merry Christmas!

And what are we saying...

We are saying that God makes himself small. God comes to reign in simplicity. God embraces poverty. God comes in way that is utterly dependent and truly defenseless.

God does not want to overwhelm us with his majesty, with his strength, so he comes to win us with sheer simplicity of innocence that can only belong to a child born and wrapped in swaddling clothes.

God make himself small so that we can receive him, welcome him, understand him, and ultimately love him.

Christmas is a feast of gifts because God gives himself to us, he puts himself completely at our disposal.

This is truly beyond anything we could have imagined.

Easter we understand. We understand the power and force that stands triumphant over the seemingly impassible jaws of death. This is what we have always longed for and have always wanted.

Easter makes sense. It is what we imagined God to be able to do as the empty tomb reveals the power and glory of God in the face of our ultimate nemesis, death.

Christmas is different. The once empty manger now is filled with the grandeur of God in this vulnerable, innocent, defenseless, dependent form wrapped in swaddling clothes.

We see God in this shadow of weakness and humility. This makes no sense. IT is here that the true meaning of "Merry Christmas" rise to the front.

God acts in a way that is beyond our imagination. God is not limited by our reason, by what and how we imagine him to act. Rather he comes to stretch our imagination. God is always more than.

A new way of living and a new way of loving has entered into the world:defenseless love comes to meet us and tear down our defenses and makes our life and love possible.

Who could have ever imagine this?
Yet it remains captivating, it s drawing power is overwhelming as friends, family, strangers all gather together, stand together, kneel together, sing together.

Ingenious really.

This is what it means to say "Merry CHristmas."

So much caught up in such a little phrase. So much to offer, but perhaps the size of the phrase is meant to mimic the reality of Christmas where GOd becomes small so that we may welcome him and never be the same.