Dear friends,

As I sit here, contemplating my preparations for the season, all the wonderful Christmas memories I have are starting to come to mind.  I can recall being together with lots of family.  I can recall the decking the halls years ago.  I can recall some weird and wonderful gifts I received.  (Did I ever tell you about the time my Aunt Nancy gave me an entire wheel of Swiss cheese!?)

So what would Christmas be without memories?  What would it be without decorations?  Without feasting?  Without children - at home, or at church?

I can only imagine those days, not too long ago, when clerks could say “Merry Christmas” without fear of a lawsuit.  I can only imagine what the season would be like without red-nosed reindeer and Charlie Brown and my kids looking over at me when “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” is played on the radio.  I can only imagine what Christmas was like before strings of electric lights.  I can only image what it was like before Martin Luther decided to bring an evergreen tree into his living room 500 years ago. 

The things we do this year to celebrate Christmas will be the things our children and grandchildren look back on, years from now.  That’s what tradition is all about.

Traditions shouldn’t be kept to serve us.  They are continually reworked and remade to shape the faith and heritage we wish to pass on to subsequent generations.  

Often, we end up turning our individualities - and our traditions - into something generic.  After all, who wouldn’t like to have a ‘Currier & Ives’ Christmas?  But let’s face it, none of us grew up with Ozzie & Harriet Nelson.  Or in Lake Wobegon.

But here’s what happens.  We end up taking upon ourselves “false” memories.  We end up preferring to celebrate the season how we think it should be celebrated, rather than passing on particular family (and church) traditions.  It becomes more real for us to celebrate Santa than it to celebrate Jesus - even though we weren’t brought up that way.

It becomes easier for us to get stressed out trying to “recreate” an old-fashioned Christmas, when our families may simply not have made a big deal over the holiday in years past.

Do you see what I’m saying?  Let Christmas - and this holiday season - be real for you this year.  Don’t struggle to turn it into something that it’s not.  Don’t get stressed out trying to find the perfect gift or making the perfect dinner or decorating your house perfectly.  

What you do this year is setting a precedent.  How you honor (or dishonor) the season this year will become a tradition in your family.  

If you get caught up in the materialism that’s out there, you can be sure that’s how your children and grandchildren will remember you.  Not for the gifts -- but for the stress.

If you get caught up in the secularism that’s out there, you can be sure that’s what your children and grandchildren will remember.  Not for fuzzy snowmen and Santa -- but for what’s missing.

If you get caught up in trying to make your Christmas picturesque, you can be sure that’s what your children and grandchildren will remember.  Not for every decoration in its right place -- but for the shallow emptiness.

Listen.  It’s simple.  Don’t be selfish.  Don’t go through the motions, no matter how laudable or beautiful, if your heart isn’t in it.  If your heart isn’t in it, well, then neither is the Spirit.

If you share the joy of the season genuinely, without pretense, your children and grandchildren will honor you for years to come by wanting to share those wonderful memories with their children and grandchildren. 

Of all the things you’re doing this holiday season, what would you want your children and grandchildren to do, when they reach your age?  What would you NOT want them to do?  

You are re-creating your families’ traditions right now!

Marcia and I wish you a genuine Merry Christmas,

Pastor Jon West