The Hope of Christmas

The current sermon series at church is called "Jesus: Hope for All"... it's been a great preparation for Christmas as each week we explore a different way that Jesus brings us hope.  Over the last few weeks I've found myself contemplating what Christmas and Jesus really mean to me, and I keep coming back to C.S. Lewis' brilliant story "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe".

In this first book of the Narnia series, Lewis introduces us to Narnia while it is under the rule of the White Witch.  She has used her powers to keep Narnia in a perpetual state of winter.  Can you imagine?  Don't get me wrong... I enjoy a bit of snow and cold weather... But frigid temperatures all the time? A blanket of snow over everything year round?  Not a fan!

But according to Mr. Tumnus, the cold and snow aren't even really the worst part of this constant winter.  "'Always winter and never Christmas; think of that!'"  Christmas is really the only good thing about winter... I love getting to Thanksgiving and feeling the air begin to get colder, the first signs that winter and Christmas are coming soon.  My Christmas tree goes up; Christmas lights and decorations begin to appear on houses; peppermint hot chocolate returns to Starbucks...  There's something about Christmas that makes the thought of winter seem ok.  Can you imagine winter without the joy of Christmas?

But Narnia was not without hope.  There was a promise that was whispered by those who longed for winter to be over:
"Wrong shall be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again."
The promise was that a savior was coming-- someone who would bring spring and life.  As the story continues, one of the first signs that Aslan had indeed arrived in Narnia is a visit from "Father Christmas".  His presence marks the arrival of Christmas, bringing a renewed hope that the White Witch's power was fading and spring would indeed come again.  It was evidence that Aslan was on the move, preparing to save Narnia, the land he had created, and restore it to its true nature.

As I've been reflecting on my own life, I've come to compare it to Narnia.  I lived for a very long time in a perpetual winter.  The ground of my heart was frozen and covered with snow and ice.  Nothing could take root and grow.  It was desolate and cold and depressing.  But God, our Aslan, wasn't about to let that be the story of my life.  He desired spring and new life to come to my heart; he wanted to restore me to what he had created me to be.  So, long before I was even born, God came into our world at Christmas to bring hope for new life.  The roar that Lewis speaks of in Narnia is the voice of God in our world, speaking after 400 years of silence... a voice that started as the cry of a tiny baby in a barn in Bethlehem-- the first sign that God was on the move here on Earth, preparing to bring new life to a world that desperately needed it.

I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am for Christmas, for the truth that God came to live among us so he could teach us, die for us, and raise himself and us to new life.  Because of what he did, springtime has come to my heart again.  Two weeks ago I was baptized as a sign that, while winter exists, it does not rule.  I have a new life now that springs from the hope that entered our world on that first Christmas so long ago.  My Jesus came to be my savior because he loves me passionately and fully.

I pray that you might know the hope of Christmas and the truth that winter doesn't have to be your reality-- let God move in you... Spring will come again!