Consider these words from the Bible; "The Word (God) became flesh and lived among us." John 1:14.
I recently read about the legend of the touchstone. It's a good Advent / Christmas parable for us. According to the legend, if you found the touchstone on the coast of the Black Sea and held it in your hand, everything you touched would turn to gold. You would recognize the touchstone by its warmth. The other stones would feel cold, but the touchstone would turn warm in your hand.
Once a man sold everything he had, went to the Black Sea, and began picking up stones, hoping to find the touchstone. After some days passed he realized he was picking up the sames stones again and again. So he devised a plan: Pick up a tone; it it's cold, throw it into the sea. This he did for weeks and weeks.
One morning he picked up a stone. It was cold, so he threw it into the sea. He picked up another. It too felt cold, so he threw it into the sea - and so on and so on. Then he picked up yet another stone. It turned warm in his hand but before he realized what he was doing, he threw it into the sea! He had the touchstone in his hand, and he threw it away. So dulled by the routine, he didn't recognize its specialness. Absentmindedly, he tossed it aside.
This can happen to us at Christmas time. If we are not careful, we miss the uniqueness, the power, the sacredness of the season; and before we even realize what we are doing, we throw it away, toss it aside.
Christmas has so much to give us, so much to teach us. The purpose of Advent is to get us ready for the sacredness of Christmas so we can receive and celebrate the wonderful gifts Christmas has for us ... and, especially, the gift of Jesus Christ who is, indeed, "The Reason for the Season."
We hope you have the best Christmas ever, as you focus on the Christ of Christmas.
Pastor John Giesbrecht
