Advent – Week 1 Message

Hello and welcome to Week 1 of our special Advent series of spiritual first aid for believers and seekers. We have three goals for this series. We want to:

1. help everyone be more confident in the story of God
2. be more aware of where each of us fits into the story and how Satan is trying to trip us up
3. be better equipped to compassionately and effectively share the Good News of Jesus this Christmas

This week we’re going to examine the roots of our Christmas tree.

There’s something special about celebrating Christmas with children. This year, I’ll be blessed to share the season with Dee Dee, our three sons, two daughters in law and five grandchildren between the ages of 3 months and 13 years.

And I fully anticipate that our toddler will have lots of questions and bring with him his “But why” approach to life. You know how toddlers can be. Why? Why? Why? But this year, I think this approach will help all of us. Let’s use this “But why” approach to better understand the roots of our Christmas tree.

Imagine the following scene. You hear a door opening to my office and two of our grandchildren enter.

“Hello Papa!” cry out our 13 and 7 year old grandchildren.

“Hello kids!” I respond. “I was just doing a little work.”

“We know,” they say, “But we have a question.”

“What’s that?”

“Why do we have a green tree in the house?”

“It’s Christmas time,” I said.

“Why do we celebrate Christmas?”

“Because Jesus was born at Bethlehem,” I said.

The children sat down and continued their questions. “Why was Jesus born?”

I replied, “So He could die on the cross and then rise from the dead three days later.”

“What?” they cried out in unison. “Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?”

Christmas was no longer about presents and goodies. Our children were beginning to see the deeper meaning of Christmas.
“To forgive our sins and restore our harmony with God,” I said.

Our 13-year-old granddaughter then asked, “Why can’t we do that ourselves?”

I slowed down as we were getting into the details of Christmas. “Well, sweetheart, because we all sin and make mistakes and we all fall short of the glory of God. St. Paul tells us this in the Bible in his letter to the Romans, chapter 3, verse 23: we all fall short of the glory of God. And you and I both know that we are not perfect. But God is perfect. How could we make ourselves right before a perfect God?”

“Is that where Jesus comes in?” she asked.

“It sure is. When Jesus allowed himself to be crucified, he was carrying our sins. And when he died on the cross, he paid the price for our sins. He did something for us we could never do for ourselves.”

“Wow, Papa,” our grandson exclaimed. “That’s a lot for Jesus to do. Why do we sin anyway?”

I continued. “Because God gave us freewill to make our own decisions. God created the world and He created all of us to know him and love him, but He wanted us to choose to love him. True love is always freely given. God could have made us love him but that wouldn’t be love, would it?”

“Your right, Papa. Why does God want us to love him so much? Is it really that important?

“Yes, it is. As you get older,” I said, “You will better understand that there is evil in this world and there are bad things in the next life, too. God wants to save us from the evil now and the bad things in the next life. He wants to help us every day and He wants us to live with Him in peace and harmony for all of eternity.”

“It sounds like God really loves us,” the children said.

“He sure does. That’s why we celebrate Christmas.”

These are the roots of our Christmas tree. In toddler terms, these are the 8 degrees of “Why Christmas.”
How often do you hear people focusing on just the first two degrees? “It’s Christmas time so let’s deck the halls with boughs of holly.” This is happening more and more as many elements of our culture lose the Judeo-Christian worldview.

But if we only focus on the first two degrees, our understanding is superficial, and any Christmas joy will be heavily influenced by the stress of the season and likely short-lived. And if this is our only experience with Christmas year after year, it won’t be long, and we’ll totally lose sight of the deep and beautiful meaning of Christmas. We can even see why many people identify with Scrooge. “Christmas. Bah, humbug!”

You may have also encountered people who focus on just the 8th degree of Christmas. “Merry Christmas. God loves you.” These words can easily come off as trivial and meaningless if they are disconnected from a full understanding of the 8 degrees of Christmas.

The degree to which we celebrate God’s love is related to how fully we understand who God is, who we are, who are biggest enemy is, and why we need a savior. A big part of this dynamic involves getting our heads and hearts around the impact of sin in our life. In short, if we don’t acknowledge our sin, we have no need for a savior.

A dear friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer recently. She had no interest in fully exploring treatment options until she fully accepted the fact that she had cancer cells multiplying in her body. Once she accepted this, she eagerly considered the options and started treatment.

What did the angel of the Lord proclaim to Joseph at the beginning of the Christmas story?

“The birth of Jesus Christ occurred in this way. When his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came to live together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph was a just man and did not wish to expose her to the ordeal of public disgrace; therefore, he resolved to divorce her quietly.

After he had decided to follow this course of action, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to receive Mary into your home as your wife. For this child has been conceived in her womb through the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you shall name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1: 18-21)

I once heard an author say, “I think the biggest problem in most people’s life is unconfessed sin.”

Do you have any unconfessed sins in your life? During this first week of Advent, consider asking God to reveal any to you. And then ask God for His forgiveness. If you can, seek out a loving priest or minister and ask them to hear your confession.

If not, call on Jesus from your heart. Keep in mind the words of St. John from 1 John 1: 8-10.

“If we claim that we are sinless, we are only deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
However, if we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all wrongdoing. If we say that we have never sinned, we make him out to be a liar,
and his word is not in us.”

My story is a Catholic story. My moment of understanding and surrender came while I sat in my car on Grace St. A song came on the radio, and I cried. It all finally made sense. I asked God to forgive me and help me live a better life. He’s never let me down.

This is the gospel, the good news of Christmas that is summed in John 3:16:
G God so loved the world that He gave is
O only
S son so that anyone who believed in him would not
P perish but have
E eternal
L life

The 8 degrees of Christmas provide us with the elements of spiritual first-aid that we can share with family and friends this Advent season. What do I mean by spiritual first aid? When medical first responders respond to an accident, illness, or injury, what do they do first? They immediately begin to check critical life support systems. Are they breathing? Is their heart beating? Medical first responders understand that if the person’s heart stops beating, it won’t matter if they have a broken arm.

Spiritual first responders take a similar approach. There are many different elements of faith that we might like to share with people. But we understand that if a person’s heart stops beating for Christ, it won’t matter if they don’t understand church dogma, doctrine, and tradition.

We’ll hope that we have a chance, at some point, to discuss these important issues, these issues of advanced care, but we need to meet people where they are at and make sure their hearts beat for Christ. Eventually, I hope everyone can find a loving church family to connect with but that might take some time.

Let’s keep in mind that a good number of our family members and friends, and likely the strangers we’ll meet, are unchurched. We don’t want them to be un-Bibled and un-Christed, too.

This Advent season let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us and then help us help our family members and friends, and maybe a stranger or two, to examine the roots of their Christmas tree.

I’ll be back soon with our week 2 message where we’ll aim our Christmas lights into areas of darkness in our life.