Ican only share with you my own childhood experiences of Christmas, but I am certain my experiences are those of countless children around the world who dream of Christmas, who wait for Christmas, who prepare for Christmas. What I wish to share first with you is how I and my three siblings prepared for Santa Claus.
First on a child’s list of things to do to prepare for Christmas was to make our Christmas wish list: things such as bicycles, play sets, 45 rpm record players, stuffed animals or dolls that really cried—all the fun and pretty things. And maybe you did as children had done before us, and as we later taught our own children, which was to be sure to leave a plate of Christmas cookies and a glass of milk under our stockings so that Santa would have a snack to help him on his way. Lastly, I’m sure you will remember, too, that our parents told us what we would later tell our kids, that Santa would only come after we had gone to sleep on Christmas Eve. Thus, we prepared the way for Santa Claus to come.
Advent is upon us. Advent, which means “coming,” is observed on the four Sundays that precede Christmas Day. Advent is observed by Christians as a way to prepare for the celebration and experience of Christ Jesus’ coming into the world—God’s Presence as Savior. It is one thing to prepare for Santa Claus; it is quite another to prepare for God.
The hope of God’s salvation is echoed throughout the Hebrew Bible, what others refer to as the Old Testament. In the very middle of the Bible you will find the prophet Isaiah, who spoke God’s word to his people: “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together’” (Isaiah 40). Make straight a highway.
In her novel, Under the Tuscan Sun, At Home in Italy, Frances Mayes shares that the governments of Italy and Austria built a railroad (a highway, if you will) between Venice and Vienna through the Alps before they had a train that could make the trip. They truly believed that, one day, the train would come. The point: you have to have faith that “all things work together for good” for those who make “faith” decisions.
What are the faith decisions we make as followers of Christ? The decision that apart from God, there is no fulfillment of life. The decision that love is better than indifference. The decision that giving is better than receiving. The decision that we can only gain our lives by giving them away. The decision that mercy is the better part of judgment. And with that, the decision that we are called to be forgiving. The decision that Christ is the Savior of the world and the center of Christmas. That it is Christ for whom the highway is intended.
Decisions for Christ are not easy decisions. They are not the decisions that the mass of humanity makes! They are “ faith” decisions. We live our lives by such decisions because we deeply believe that the real Christmas will come—that one day the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, rushing to us as on a highway, and all people shall see it together.
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