Christmas Isn't Done

Don't touch that tree! Don't move those lights! It's still Christmas!

I really hate that song, the twelve days of Christmas. It just repeats and repeats and repeats, and I can never remember anything past 'Five golden rings.' But did you ever wonder where the idea came from? Twelve days? Actually, there are twelve days of Christmas, most people just forgot. My favorite radio station is still playing Christmas music because it's still Christmas! Twelve days to celebrate Jesus, because you can't fit him into just one night.

I was surprised when I learned that there should be twelve days of Christmas. But if you think about it, Christmas really never ends. We celebrate the light and the nativity as if the birth in the stable was the whole point of Jesus coming. But Christmas wouldn't mean a thing if Jesus never left the stable. We wouldn't know anything about Mary and Joseph if their son hadn't gone on to live an extraordinary life.

Christmas isn't victory, although a lot of people treat it like it is. Christmas is about hope, and hope doesn't mean that the good stuff has happened yet. Hope means we're still waiting for the good to arrive, urgently, expectantly waiting.

Because Christmas work isn't done yet. Christmas was just the beginning. It's appropriate, then, that New Years falls during the Christmas holiday, because that's really what Christmas is about. The start of the start, the beginning of the new way, the end is in sight, it's just not here yet.

Jesus carried on to live his life, teach and preach and die. He had a lot of work to do, and so do we. As we exit the Christmas season, we should realize that it is only the start, a new start, a reminding of the work we have to do. We have to prepare ourselves for Jesus to return. We have to try to reshape the world according to his vision. We have to be his hands and feet. Our work isn't done until we're dead, when it really begins!

So celebrate the manger, but don't stay outside the inn. You've got to leave Bethlehem for Christmas to mean anything. Don't get stuck in silent night, rather go and tell it on the mountain. Jesus came! He's coming back!

Hip Hip Hooray! :)