Ruts

Things always change this time of the year. Earlier this week I moved chairs, tables, plants, couches, and lamps in our house. Moving these things in one room changed the configuration in other rooms because all that stuff had to go somewhere. There is a domino effect that happens. It is all because we have brought a new piece of decoration into our home. Monday (yes, on one of the coldest days of the year) we cut down a Noble Fir and it now resides in our living room along with the two pianos and couch. The tree is decorated with…
• 39 years of decorations
• numerous musical ornaments (tiny pianos, bells, treble cleffs, and musical notes) Carol has received from her students
• Ornaments reminding us of various vacations and friends
• Multiple angels and stars
• Pictures of our 5 grandchildren and 3 children at various ages.
• An angel at the top that Amy made in kindergarten.

Yes, things change in the Grant household in December! And, it’s not all inside, either. The exterior has more lights (waiting for the cold to moderate to complete this project). December changes things. It blasts us out of our decorative ruts and routines. When the tree invades, things change!

Christmas also celebrates Christ’s invasion of earth. When Jesus began his ministry at the synagogue in Nazareth, recorded in Luke 4:14-30, He announced the changes that His invasion were going to make. He read these words from Isaiah 61:
LK 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Jesus came to do more than move our furniture. He came to blow us out of the ruts and routines of business-as-usual, make-a-buck-at-others’ expense, climb-on-others-to-get-to-the-top. His invasion was God stepping into our lives to change things. Jesus came to change the lives of the poor, and this would domino over into the changes in the lives of the rich—they would have to detach themselves from a bit of their wealth. Jesus came to release people from bondage and imprisonment whether physical, spiritual, or emotional. He came to open blind eyes to the light of God’s glory. He came to lift up those who are stepped on and to let them know that God’s grace will make things different in the new year.

More than at any other time of the year, Christmas is when people open their hearts to the poor. But, Jesus’ invasion promised more than a new path for the poor. When Jesus invades, things move and routines and ruts are changed. Instead of rushing through our lives, struggling to make ends meet, Jesus will open our hearts to those who are bound in prisons physical and emotional. Too often our ruts and routines blind our eyes to those on God’s heart. His invasion will open our blind eyes so that we see the weak and helpless, the children and the mentally ill.

The Christmas tree and decorations will all come down in three weeks, but the changes Jesus’ invasion will make in our lives won’t stop at December 25th. They will go on all year long.