Beacon Touchpaper #5: "Christmas - What's the Point?"

"...Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice..." (John 18.37)

One of the greatest Christmas texts comes, not from Jesus's birth, but from shortly before His death. When Jesus, under arrest and heading for the cross in just a few scant hours, explains his purpose here on Earth to Pilate, He is being far more provocative than Pilate realises. In uttering what can appear to be a rather elusive statement ("to bear witness to the truth", as opposed to "to show you I am King", or "to die that your sins might be forgiven"), Jesus is in fact prompting something far more fundamental. Pilate's response to that declaration follows immediately in verse 38: "What is truth?" This shows the Roman governor is missing the point entirely. The TRUTH was standing in front of Him all along: Jesus is the Way, the TRUTH, and the Life. And that's the Christmas message right there.

As we spend the next month preparing for and celebrating Christmas, spare a thought for those others who are also missing the point. There's more than a few: 125,000 tonnes of packaging will have been thrown away by January; 330,000 trees will be used to make Christmas cards; £20 billion will be spent in total (£900 million of those on decorations alone); only 1 in 4 children in the UK think Christmas is more about giving rather than receiving; a recent survey of 5,500 Christmas cards in our High Streets showed only 67 bore images of the Bible story; January the 8th is cited as the busiest day of the year for divorce lawyers, when up to 1 in 5 couples (!) will enquire about divorce after the pressures of Christmas. It's an epidemic...

How do we help get the real message of Christmas - "bearing witness to the TRUTH" - across? It can be in any number of ways. For many elderly or single parents, the only person they may see over the Christmas period will be their postman. For those who've suffered the loss of someone close to them, the thought of entering a new year without the person they loved can be a painful reminder of what they've lost. Many of these people will be our neighbours. Just a small gesture can make all the difference; it can be the first step in building bridges for further opportunities (from personal experience, having the neighbours round one evening for Christmas drinks can be a great success). One small leap for man, one giant leap for the Gospel...

So, how do we help get the real message of Christmas - bearing witness to the TRUTH - across? I guess I'll leave that up to you...