Challenged To The Core - Kathi Brixey

Many years ago our family started the tradition of observing Advent with our children. Each Sunday evening we would light the appropriate candle and share a devotional from scripture about that part of the true Christmas story. The Advent wreath is usually made of evergreens which symbolize everlasting life and the circular shape suggests the eternal and continuing presence of God. It can also represent a crown of thorns awaiting the Savior. There are five candles in the Advent wreath each one representing an aspect of the birth of Christ; four candles in the wreath and one in the middle of the circle. There is the Prophet’s candle, the Angel’s candle, Mary’s candle, the Believer’s candle and in the middle is a white candle which represents Christ. Advent usually starts four Sundays prior to Christmas, ending on the twenty fourth of December. Some people like to have three purple candles, one pink (for Mary) and one white, while others prefer four red and one white. But, whatever your preference the point is to have a weekly devotional with your family celebrating the birth of Christ. Our children weren’t very old when we started this tradition but as they grew older they were excited to be in charge of Sunday devotion and candle lighting. Every year we would talk about the wreath and what it represented and then each of the candles. Our children were very creative in putting together a mini worship service around their particular candle that year, but what was so heartwarming for us as parents was to see that our children understood and were practicing “keeping Christmas real”.

Advent comes from the Latin word adventus which means coming. How appropriate to the tradition of celebrating with anticipation the birth of a Savior; so often in society today at Christmas there is no room for God just Santa Clause. Commercialism is what the season is all about; it’s even politically incorrect to say Merry Christmas, now we are bombarded with Happy Holidays. What’s with that? Let’s take our families back from the world and give them the real meaning of Christmas. Well, how do we do that? We can start by bringing back family time every week (Advent is a great way to do that) along with talking about what we believe in as Christians. How about sharing some of your good childhood memories of Christmas? Perhaps what Christmas means to you and then ask each other the same question. Even better ask your family if they might know of someone who won’t have Christmas this year and invite them to share yours with you. Also, talking about giving and receiving from the heart are other great subjects to explore. Giving to God, to each other, and to strangers who have nothing or very little are all wonderful ways to “keep Christmas real”.

You can start new family traditions like making cookies together, or having a gift wrapping night that includes friends as well as hot chocolate and popcorn. Movie night is always a big hit if the movies are sappy Christmas movies that mom’s tend to love. How about planning to go caroling in your neighborhood? This is a great way to share Christ through song. One of my favorite traditions when the children were younger was the reading of two books; “Santa Are You For Real” by Harold Myra and then when the children were older “The Tale of the Three Trees” retold by Angela Elwell Hunt. Both of these books tell the story of the first Christmas and point toward the crucifixion. They deal with giving, thankfulness, and unconditional love; awesome reading for parents to read to their children.

Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus spent the first Christmas together as a family. Maybe it’s a stretch to say they were starting a tradition, but there is no doubt that there were no distractions and the focus was definitely on Christ and God where it should remain. My prayer for you this season is for you and your family to really enjoy the true meaning of Christmas. Look for ways to share His love and salvation with others around you. Leading someone to Christ in this season of love would be the best Christmas present ever! At the end of December as you pack away the tinsel and lights, be sure not to put in the box the real reason for this season, which would be a tragedy. I hope you have seen my heart this week and I am going to challenge you today to start “keeping Christmas real”.