I recently heard someone on our local radio talking about the days between Christmas and New year, and calling it Betwixtmas. At first, that made me smile, but the presenter went on to say that for many, it can be a flat time, with the excitement of Christmas past, and a new year beckoning. Some are travelling between one set of family members and another, trying to ensure they get round to visiting them all before going back to work.
I don’t know when you take down your Christmas decorations. I usually do mine a few days into the new year, but some people want them down as soon as the festivities are over. Sadly, I hear a lot of people talking around this time about how low they feel. They’ve rushed around like headless chickens, trying to create the perfect Christmas, but the beautifully wrapped expensive gifts were opened in no time, the food was soon eaten, and everyone went home with full stomachs complaining about the need to go on a diet. No doubt, this is a quiet time. The early part of December is busy, Christmas itself is a whirlwind, and new year parties are over and done with in one night.
I hope you’re not feeling down as you read this, but in case you are, I want to remind you that although Christmas has passed us by for another year, the one whose birth we’ve celebrated is very much alive and well, and wanting to rule and reign in our hearts and lives. Perhaps you are feeling disappointed. Your perfect Christmas wasn’t quite what you’d hoped for. The gifts weren’t appreciated. The children squabbled all day and got over-excited. You burned the turkey. Maybe by the end of it all, you were wondering why you put in so much effort.
As I sit here, still surrounded by my hundreds of festive lights, the house is quiet once more. Life is getting back to some kind of normality. Yet, I still feel the joy and excitement of Christmas in my heart, because the baby born in the manger is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and the Saviour of my soul. Sadly, there are those who still just think of him as baby Jesus, and so, when Christmas ends, they put him away in the attic with all the lovely ornaments and nativity scenes, and they don’t pull him out again until the end of next year. It’s no wonder they feel flat. The house will be dark when the lights come down, but the Light Of The World will still be shining brightly.
A life without Jesus is always looking for the next best thing to thrill and excite. We fixate on something that will temporarily numb the ache, or fill the gaping void. Creating the idyllic Christmas can do that for a while. We are so busy, swept along by planning, that we don’t have time to face the realities of our emptiness. Yet, when it’s over, it all comes crashing in, and we must move onto the next big thing, always seeking something, but never finding it, until we realise there is a God-shaped hole in each of our hearts that only a relationship with him through his son Jesus Christ can fill.
2000 years ago, God gave a gift to this world that was priceless, and can never be equalled. He gave himself, in the form of a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in an animals’ feeding trough. He entrusted himself into human hands, in the ultimate act of humility. Why did he do it? He did it to fill that void we’ve just been talking about. He knew that sin had entered the world shortly after its creation, and he grieved that it separated us from him. Thousands of animal sacrifices had been made in atonement for man’s individual sins, but God knew one perfect sacrifice would be sufficient to cover the sin of all men, during all times. So, he came, lived a perfect life, and willingly went to the cross to pay for my sin and yours. With that in mind, how can we feel disappointed? Romans 5, 5-8 says: “And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts. He gave us his love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us. When we were unable to help ourselves, at the moment of our need, Christ died for us, although we were living against God. Very few people will die to save the life of someone else. Although perhaps for a good person someone might possibly die. But God shows his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
When I consider all this, I cannot feel low or disappointed. I cannot put him away in the attic, although sooner or later I will have to pack away my lights and ornaments. Truly, we are living in Betwixtmas, as we look back on his first coming, and wait with eager expectation for the day when he will return to this earth once more to put an end to sin forever, and to rule and reign as he so richly deserves. Each year, as we celebrate his birth, it is also good to remember we are waiting for another advent, which will be very different from the first. We must look back, and look forward, because if we know Jesus as our Saviour, we have so much to look forward to.
We are about to head into a new decade. In some ways, this is exciting, but each year passes with its share of joys and sorrows. It doesn’t matter what page the calendar is on. I can pretty much guarantee we will all laugh and cry in 2020, just as we did in 2019. But what a difference it makes when we have Jesus walking alongside us through both the joys and the sorrows.
So, as Matthew West puts it: “Happy Day after Christmas. Merry rest of the year! Even when Christmas is over, the light of the world is still here.”