Long Expected Jesus

Something's missing this Christmas.

We celebrate Christmas tomorrow and it doesn't "feel" like Christmas yet. Something's missing and I can't put my finger on it. I did all the things I normally do to celebrate the holiday. We cut down a tree, decorated, did our annual Christmas festivities, and then I came home to GA a week before Christmas to celebrate with my family. But something's missing. I thought about the things that make it feel like Christmas to me. Usually all of these annual events, coupled with a few airings of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and then sitting with my family surrounded by lights from the tree while watching Elf pretty much does it. Especially now that I live far away, being together with my family during this time is what Christmas is to me. But still, something is missing.

I got lost this year; lost somewhere between the traditions and busyness that seem to make up the Christmas season. I've had my fill of stores and consumerism in the past week. That didn't make it feel like Christmas either. And despite the fact that I'm more amazed than I used to be by the idea that there is a day that people give you all kinds of gifts, (something about working with families living in extreme poverty has tweaked my excitement from a sense of Christmas entitlement to an extremely humbling feeling of gratefulness) alas, Christmas is in the morning and still something is missing.

As I drove to the store this morning and listened to the Christmas song I can't seem to turn off, I think I finally figured it out. The lyrics say, "Come thou long expected Jesus." As I drove I thought about what makes me feel like it's Christmastime. Although I know the reason we celebrate this holiday, what makes it "feel" like Christmas to me are movies and cookies and hot cider and cheese and crackers and my family. Traditions make me feel like it's Christmas.

Christmas in our culture, even with all of our crazy traditions of fat men in suits and elves and snowmen has one resounding theme; the excitement of awaiting something. It's what we are awaiting that we've gotten mixed up. All I've known of Christmas is what I grew up feeling as a child. There was this sense of overwhelming expectation for gifts, excitement for something waited for, something unknown, something I'm longing to have. As an adult, I'm trying to understand what Christmas is to me now.

Obviously, I've never known a day on this Earth prior to Jesus' birth, so the story that we read of a savior being born has truly never been more to me than that; a well known story.  A tradition.  But tonight I tried to imagine what it was like in the day of Jesus' birth to understand the true meaning of Christmas.  What the people were awaiting in that time was so much more than a gift under the Christmas tree, they were awaiting a savior to be born that would save their lives. Truly, the greatest gift they've ever received; the greatest gift we've ever received.

The lyrics of the song I can't turn off say this,
"Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free; from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee. Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art; dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart. "

This is what the people were desperately awaiting; hope and freedom in the form of a savior. The joy of every longing heart. They were awaiting the answer.  And that is what came this day that we celebrate. The same savior that they longed to be born, is the one that we celebrate today. As I see the stars in the sky and wonder about the wise men following them, this story has come to life, and all of a sudden, I feel like I fully understand.  My lack of feeling the joy of Christmas is replaced with the giddy excitement not of my 4 yr old self when Santa brought my scooter, but of my 30 yr old self so excited to celebrate the birth of a saving King. There is a reason that the gifts and traditions don't feel like Christmas, because they aren't, but rather done in celebration and worship of my king.

This year may you find and know the same excitement of long expected joy, hope and salvation as those in the stories we read.  "Come though long expected Jesus!"
For the first time I understand that THIS is Christmas.