December 25th came in a flurry and disappeared, dragging with it the lights, carols, & "holiday cheer". But this year Christmas was different for me. In Israel we celebrated Hanukkah. Walking the streets of Jerusalem during that week, I witnessed a Jewish family lighting a tiny Menorah outside their home and was invited to help a baker make sufganiyot (jelly-filled donuts, a Hanukkah staple). I felt several months and worlds away from the external (& sometimes sacrilegious) festivities that surround December 25th in America.
[caption id="attachment_636" align="aligncenter" width="460" caption="i lived on a hill far away"]
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It was surprising how much I miss Israel and our humble campus on the moshav (on left hill in picture above). When we landed back in America after four months, the airport was overflowing with lights, trees, carols. It was a rush of familiarity, but it paled in significance to my new knowledge of Christ. Every year I am convicted about how seldom I meditate on Christ during the buzz of the Christmas season. I am so thankful for an entire semester in which I was isolated in Christ's homeland with the Jews. I watched them scurry around, running to the bus stop and to the bakery in their black clothes [which they wear to mourn the destruction of the Temple]. Why do they live in such a frantic state? Because they are still waiting for the birth & reign of the Messiah, the One who they believe will save them from their endless suffering. I believe that Jesus Christ was and is the Messiah that God promised Israel, and how heartbreaking it was to watch the Jews live in denial of God's gift, His only Son. With that said, it was so humbling to watch them celebrate their religious holidays with such fervor and love for the Old Testament. For them, holidays are only about God. For example, during the festival of Sukkot, teens will stay up all night to study the Torah. It is their deepest joy. And yet, I struggle to read/study what the Bible says about Christ's birth for the month before I celebrate Christmas. I am different from the Jews because I have the confidence that the Messiah has come and conquered sin & death. But where is the focus of my love during Christmas? Being home, seeing beloved friends, unwinding from school :: distractions. I found myself turning again and again to this simple prayer ::
Herein is wonder of wonders:
he came below to raise me above, was born like me that I might become like him.
Herein is love:
when I cannot rise to him he draws me near on wings of grace, to raise me to himself.
Herein is power:
when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart he united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreated and the created.
Herein is wisdom:
when I was undone, with no will to return to him, and no intellect to devise recovery he came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost, as man to die my death, to shed satisfying blood on my behalf, to work out a perfect righteousness for me. [Valley of Vision, "The Gift of Gifts"]
THAT, will be my creed and heartbeat for days, weeks, and months to come. May the wonder of His coming to earth be such a treasure that I make it the theme of 2011.
& & & I want to thank all of you who follow my blog by giving you an exclusive preview of the most exciting day of my life...December 30, 2010 is one for the books. [ more to follow tomorrow ]
