In Christmas Gifts from God, Terry Lees explains why he loves Christmas, his favourite time of year, a time to be with family, foster love, togetherness and sharing, reaffirming and strengthening of the positive values that bind us together. It’s a time to celebrate life, the past year, remember when’s, share stories, laugh together, create new and lasting memories.

Christmas is a time of giving and receiving. Yet, Terry shares that as he’s grown older, the Christmas gifts he’s become more aware of, are those from God – the message of Bethlehem: love, forgiveness, salvation.

Terry speaks of the humanity of Jesus, one of us, of the extent of the love of God and of the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas Gifts from God is compelling listening.

Listen to the episode below, or continue on to read the transcript.

Episode Transcript:

I love Christmas!

From the time I reached understanding, Christmas has been my favourite time of year; a time to be with family, foster love, togetherness and sharing, reaffirming and strengthening of the positive values that bind us together. It’s a time to celebrate life, the past year, remember when’s, share stories, laugh together, create new and lasting memories.

Christmas is a time of giving and receiving. The simple art of giving is highlighted more at Christmas time than at any other time of year. That intense moment as you wait to see the response of the person to whom your gift was given, knowing you made them happy, brings an inner glow that will keep you in touch with the special Christmas spirit.

Yet, as I’ve grown older, the Christmas gifts I’ve become more aware of, are those from God – the message of Bethlehem: love, forgiveness, salvation.

The Roman emperor ordered a census. Joseph and Mary were forced into the hardship of a four-day journey on foot from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Mary, close to her time, rode on the back of a donkey.  In Bethlehem the No Vacancy sign was up and they could find no accommodation. They accepted a rock cave used as a stable in which animals were housed. The whole thing was chaos. Yet, out of chaos, hope was born.

The Saviour of the world was born to a peasant girl amongst the sounds and stinky smells of animals. His bassinette was a straw-lined feed box!

Even before the Cross and the Resurrection, our salvation is already accomplished in the figure of a vulnerable, homeless, powerless, dependent newborn infant, the God come to be among us in grace and glory. He was fully human, with all the needs and emotions that are common to us all. Yet he was also fully God, all wise and all powerful.

St Paul offers a summary of God’s divine intervention: “Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross’ [Philippians 2:5-8].

Christmas day is the day of our delivery, the day of the world’s greatest miracle. The baby in the manger became the Lamb of God on the cross.

Life and love are given to us by God in God’s Son. God is the origin of all the love we have to offer.  In Jesus, born in Bethlehem, God embraces the human condition, establishing a covenant with humankind. God makes God’s-self accessible. The Apostle John proclaims: “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins” [1 John 4:10].

Jesus had a human birth, a human ancestry. He became a baby in the way of all babies. He was carried in his mother’s womb for nine months, formed in her likeness, and nourished. He took his features from Mary – eyes, nose, mouth, colouring. Mary held him in her arms, covering him with kisses, gazing lovingly into his eyes. He drank milk from her breasts. She burped him and changed his soiled nappy.

As a toddler, he took his first tentative steps, encouraged by excited parents, fell on his bum, got up and tried again. He grew, went to school, played with other kids, stubbed his toe, grazed his knees when he fell. He slept, got hungry and thirsty. He felt the cold and shivered, he felt the heat and mopped his sweaty brow. He took on a job as an apprentice carpenter, hit his thumb with a hammer and likely got frustrated when he made a mistake! He bled. He died. Jesus was human – just like us!

The humanity of Jesus is apparent throughout the whole course of his obedience. His conception, birth, development, limitations, suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension give powerful testimony to the genuine humanity of Jesus.

If God was willing to be born in a smelly stable, there is no place God will not go. God knows what it is like to be human. We can talk to God about all our issues and problems. He understands. He’s been there, been here. Because of Bethlehem we have a mate in heaven. God became one of us so we could become one with God.

Jesus is the promise of new life for all creation. Christ is everywhere! Christ is in all things!

There is no limit to God’s love. When Jesus was born so was our hope. That’s why I love Christmas. Christ is in Christmas.

Look for the Silver Lining.

This is Terry Lees

[Music: Christmas Everyday – Kenny Rogers]