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A New Kind of "Family Christmas"​

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I once saw a plaque that read "Christmas Is Family".  Christmas often means family coming together, but at its core, Christmas is about Jesus, and not about Jesus getting together with His family, but rather leaving them to come to earth to redeem a lost people.  That is something we can all celebrate, whether we plan to be home for Christmas or whether we have no place this side of Heaven to call home. Jesus left His family (The Father and The Holy Spirit) and entered our humanity 2000 years ago as part of a plan in which He would return someday, not alone, but bringing many with Him.  He would have preferred his cup pass, that the cross He died upon to redeem us from our sins, was not necessary, but it was, and so He was willing. He wanted us to come home to love of a family, not just for a holiday, but for an Eternity. It is easy to lose sight of this in the joy of reuniting with friends and loved ones. It is easy to loose sight of this in the sorrow of missing friends and family no longer with us.  

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This year, my dad entered his heavenly home just as the 12 days of Christmas began.  A friend and joint heir of the kingdom said upon his departure "Home for Christmas" takes on a whole new meaning.  So it does, not just for my dad, but for me. I came home for Christmas this year, not to prime rib, but to a home-going celebration (otherwise known as a funeral) for my dad.  I came home to the joys and sorrows a house can foster. Joy of memories of how well my mom and dad loved, sorrow of the temporary separation from them I now experience as they celebrate together in their true Home above.  I can look back at the wonderful times we shared, and I do. I can look ahead to the joys we shall share again someday, and I do. I can be sad that this side of Heaven, that Grandma and Grandpa B's house will no longer be a place my children can come home to for Christmas, and I am.  But mostly, I pray to celebrate Christmas with the Christ of Christmas, fully present with me and fully present with my parents as we celebrate Him in our respective places.  

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This time of year it is commonplace to ask folks where they plan to spend Christmas.  Perhaps the better question to ask would be, where do you plan to spend eternity? That is after all why Christ came, to give us the option of spending it with Him, adopted into the Family of a Heavenly Father, who delights in welcoming children home.  This side of Heaven, there will always be sorrow mixed in with the joys of Christmas. If not for you, for someone, and if for someone, out of compassion for you as well. But there is coming a day, when those who have taken the gift of redemption freely offered by Christ, will experience the joy He brings with none of the sorrow.  And for those of us who accept this gift and know Christ as Lord and Saviour, the joy outweighs the sorrow.  

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Whatever your plans for this Christmas season, I pray they are secondary to the anticipation God can place in your heart of celebrating His great plan of redemption through the sending of His Son.  I pray you would not take lightly the access He provides us to the Heavenly Father, the amazing gift of the Spirit He sends to live in us, knowing we would need companionship after He left this earth.  I hope you are able to be home for Christmas, somewhere that brings comfort and a sense of belonging to you. But regardless of how that pans out in an earthly sense, I offer praise to the Father, in whom our hearts find a true home wherever we are.  Welcome home to Christmas.

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"“In my Father’s house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”  John 14:2-3 (ESV)

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