Now What?

INTRO

Have you ever noticed how the day after Christmas is kind of a letdown? There is always this build up to Christmas. Some of us have had the decorations hung for over a month. We have sung the songs, watched the movies, bought and wrapped the gifts, and cooked the meals. There is admittedly an excitement around the countdown to Christmas. The final preparations that need to be made. That last gift we thought we had bought, only to find out we left something out. Family comes in. We open our homes and our hearts to relatives that maybe we haven’t seen in a while. Then there is Christmas Eve. The day before. There is a tradition that we have started since Kris came along: Courtney prepares a Christmas Eve box for him. There is a new set a pjs, some small gifts, and a Christmas movie. We usually bake cookies and the watch the movie.

Then the big day arrives. We gather with the family around the tree. Read the Christmas Story found in Luke 2, and then get down to business opening gifts. There is always this joy at seeing your loved ones open those gifts that you bought for them. After the laughter, jokes, stories, the chaos of wrapping paper from one end of the room to the other, it’s just over. All that excitement. All that preparation. All that waiting. It’s over.

Isn’t it interesting how quickly we shift gears? As soon as Christmas day is past, the decorations come down, the radio stations return to playing regular music, and almost overnight, it’s as if Christmas Day never happened. For some of us, we are left asking, “Now what?”

Post-holiday depression is a clinically recognized condition. Christmas time can bring about such strong emotions that, when it’s over, people have a difficult time returning to their normal routine. This condition is marked by anxiety, insomnia, low-energy, irritability, and difficulty concentrating. People seem to struggle during the holidays and after.

But surely, it’s not like that in the church? Certainly, God’s people have a different perspective on things? All I can say to that is: we should!

Now, I’m not saying that we don’t have a right to feel. Too often, we come into the church house, put on a smile, and when asked how we are doing, we say “fine.” Can I encourage you, if that is you today, to stop pretending for our sake. If you are hurting or if you are struggling, this is the place for you to be honest about that. As Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” We are here to support and edify one another. We are walking the Christian walk together and that walk can be difficult. It’s made even more difficult, when we forsake the friendship and fellowship that we have in the church.

Post-holiday blues aside, there are some wonderful truths that come to light in the post-Christmas season. We read in this passage, that there were some that were eagerly anticipating the coming the Messiah. Unlike the religious leaders of their time, they were not looking for some military leader to vanquish their earthly foes. In both Simeon and Anna, we see two people that recognized the Messiah for who He was. They saw a newborn babe, who would go on to radically change the world.

What I want to focus on today, is what is presented to us in vs 40. You see, Jesus did not stay a baby in a manager. As the Scripture tells us: He grew. As I was preparing for today’s message, that thought hit me profoundly. The Christ child, who with His birth, ushered in a time a hope, peace, joy, and love that we still experience today. This season of Advent is a wonderful time to reflect on all that the birth of Christ means to us. But how often does the story stop there for so many?

The fact that Christ grew into a man, is a reason for celebration just great as Christmas. The Messiah came, just as He was promised to, and, in His arrival, signaled that everything was about to change. Not only was the incarnation of Christ significant in and of itself, but the fact that Christ developed just as we developed is just as incredible.

The Scriptures do not give us much information about Christ’s childhood. We know that this is an important time in anyone’s life. This is the time that we begin to form our ideas of self, the world, and our place in it. Now, think of boyhood Jesus. Knowing who He is, His place in the world, and the impact that He would have on the world. Even with this knowledge, He still grew as any child would. He had to learn to walk. He had to learn to read and to write. He had to learn all the things that we have to learn. And yet, there was something different about Him.