Christmas Birthday
There are at least a couple of folks in our church who I know have Christmas birthdays. Freda Mills is a Christmas baby as is DaShawn Hamlett. I’ve often wondered what it would be like to share a birthday with Jesus. On one hand you would think it would be easy for people to remember your birthday. On the other hand it seems it would also be pretty easy for folks to overlook your birthday with everything else going on. I mean it is tough to compete with Jesus.
Christmas Baby!
A lot of us spend a good bit of time getting ready for Christmas. There are a lot of good and fun things to do, traditions and rituals that add to the joy of the season. I’ve also suggested, however, that in buying gifts for people in our lives who already have so much, it is important for us to remember that December 25th is Jesus’ birthday, it is not our birthday. (DaShawn has reminded me that it is actually his birthday too.)
The question we should really be asking is not “What can I get Uncle Joe – who already has everything and actually needs little if anything for Christmas?” Rather we should be asking “What gift would Jesus really want for his birthday?” When we look at scripture Jesus obviously had a heart for the poor, for the despised and the broken hearted. It was lowly shepherds that God invited to come and celebrate Jesus’ birth. The gift Jesus would most want should have something to do with the “least of these among us.”
In that spirit we at Wright’s Chapel are once again giving away the Christmas Eve offering as a gift to those we believe Jesus would want to celebrate his birthday with. A portion of the Christmas Eve offering will go to help continue to build a home for disabled women in Haiti. We will take that money with us as our mission team from Wright’s Chapel goes again this summer to continue building a home and offers hope to these young disabled women who have very little in their lives. We will take a portion of the offering and use it to continue our feeding ministry with the homeless. Every month we partner with St Mary’s Catholic Church to fix and provide a meal for about 100 homeless men, women and children in the Fredericksburg area. Another portion of the offering will go to the missions of United Methodist Church where we are seeking to lift up the lowly and bring hope to the hopeless in our communities and abroad.
The challenge I put forth on Jesus’ birthday is to add up how much money you are spending on gifts for family, friends and coworkers who in many cases really need little, if anything, at Christmas and to then consider giving an equal amount as a gift to what Jesus would care most about. I realize that may be a lot and that may sound unreasonable, but I’ve talked to some in our church who are planning on doing just that. If giving that amount seems too risky for you and your family, I hope you’ll consider this: Could you give $25 per person in your family as a gift to Jesus on his birthday and help Jesus celebrate in a way he would really want to?
December 25th is Freda’s and DaShawn’s birthday. I hope you’ll wish them a happy day and even get them a gift if you want to. But December 25th is also Jesus’ birthday and so I hope we’ll celebrate and give him a gift that he really wants too.
