Reason for the Season

Rev. Eric Folkerth

Very early in our marriage, Dennise was putting up our Christmas tree when something surprising happened. This was a long time ago when we bought a yearly real tree.

The tree was in the front window of our house at the time, which was pretty far back from the street. So, we rationalized, nobody is going to see the decorations we put on the street side. Therefore, we decided to load down our tree with decorations on the *room* side of the tree instead.

Our thought was: our friends and family could enjoy all our ornaments with us. Their beauty wouldn’t be wasted with nobody seeing them. So, we decorated the tree in this way, admired it for a quick second, then went out to do some errands.

When we returned, much to our surprise, the tree had tumped over into the room. We had loaded down that side of the tree with so many large and weighty ornaments that it fell over on its side.

That’s a pretty good metaphor for the Christmas season, don’t you think?

We spend so much time trying to get things “perfect” during the holidays.
Perfect presents.
Perfect parties.
Perfect family stories in perfectly written “Christmas letters.”

We try to put our “good side” out toward the world for everyone to see.

But sometimes we load ourselves up so with so much busyness, worry, and general trying to “look good,” that we get out of balance, and our holiday “tumps over.”

There Good News, of course…
The entire Christmas story itself is about a God who “tumps over” all our expectations.

God comes to earth as a small baby, born to a migrant teenager, in a forgotten land. Christmas is about following the God the “tumps overs” the expectations of “perfection” that we human beings far too often try to achieve; and reminds us that, actually, God is present in all of God’s children, everywhere.

So, don’t get too busy this holiday season that you miss the real message of the season in first place. We had a wonderful Sunday last week, between the inspirational UTD Chamber Singers, a large potluck, and thirty seven carolers in the late afternoon.

Join us at church on the next two Sundays in Advent and make your plans now to be with us on Christmas Eve. Attending worship during these special Sundays is a way for us to take a breath, slow down, and remember again “the reason for the season.”

See you Sunday,

Eric Folkerth