The Absurdity of Christmas

More than 1,000 people flooded into the Civic Center yesterday at 11:30 am. It was the Holiday Feast. A massive dinner provided by Bethel to treat some of the homeless and less fortunate in our community to a meal they deserve.  It was packed. Below is just the main floor, there were also tables along the sides and in another back room serving hundreds more. It wasn't just a meal. People/kids could get their pictures taken with Santa, they got a little present, could have a picture drawn just for them, and live music and a choir sang to them during the meal. Afterwards they went to a tent outside to pick up some clothing and blankets.

As I walked around and drew people pictures, I couldn't help but think about what happened later. This is awesome now, but what happens in a few hours once their done. If it's like our Christmas dinner after you eat, you sit around and talk about how much food you ate and crash. Could they stay a little longer? Was it cool if they lingered inside where it was warm and dry (as it began to snow yesterday)? I wouldn't mind cleaning up around them if they wanted to hang out for a little while longer. But the clothing and blankets out in the tent drove most of them outside earlier to make sure they got something. 

Where I love activities like this, yesterday I was soberized again as to the reality of "you can't leave this." When I was in China and visited one of my student's (Grammar's) houses in the winter time it was -20 degrees outside and probably 35-40 degrees inside. I was there for a week and after the second day when I got sick, I was just counting down the days and hours of when I could leave. I wanted a hot shower.I wanted to not be wearing 3-4 layers all the time inside. I wanted food I didn't have to excessively chew for it's uncertainty or food that I didn't have to swallow nearly whole because I didn't know what it was and couldn't stand the texture. As much as I gave up coming to China, my apartment at school was HUGE...and boy did I miss it. I couldn't wait to leave and get back to normal. Then it occurred to me, I looked over at Grammar and realized. This is normal. I have a week here. He has another month before returning to school. This has been the last 21 years of his life. With 6 months of winter in Changchun, it's not something you can hold your breathe through.

It takes one level to serve people who don't have as much or as great of provision as you do (or think so). It takes another level to actually go to their places where they live. Then it takes another extreme level to not visit them, holding your breath through, waiting until you can return back to "safety", but to actually live there with the people. To understand when this meal is over, I'm going back outside and it could possibly hurt worse than before because now I've thawed out. To understand there is no better food later, there is no pushing through. To understand this is life, awesome for you who can come and go, but this is me, here, now. 

Meals are done here.

Family gatherings are done here. Family dinners are done here.

Doing book reports and homework is here.

"Brush your teeth and go to bed" is done here.
"I'll tuck you in" is done here.

"It's okay, you're home safe now" is done here.
"I'll check under the bed and in the closet for monsters" is here.

Romantic evenings are here. Babies are made here. Babies are delivered here.

Baby's first steps are here. Teething is done here. Potty training is done here.

It takes a whole other level to live here. Not to see it on tv, not to send money, not to visit it on a mission trip, not to live nearby and go and visit, but to actually live like the people among the people for the people's sake. It's the craziest thing.

I had a friend of mine tell me how him and his wife, who are from Egypt who escaped to Quebec and now went back into Cairo)  wanted to reach the people there. They decided they wanted to give up their freedom and convenience and go back to their people. They went in and realized the trash people were being overlooked. So they went in and everyday they would serve them. They began spending evenings and nights there. They submerged themselves in their living and culture. She found out she was pregnant. They began making travel arrangements back to Quebec for the last few weeks of the pregnancy and the delivery. Then they realized if they wanted to really be like the people, they would deliver the baby out in the dumps with them. No doctors. No medicine. No sterile...anything. No clean anything. Using rusty scissors to cut the cord. A "clean-er" shirt to wrap the baby in once delivered. Breast feeding behind a pile of newspapers or soda cans. Awesome.  They were questioned by many people, but they wanted to prove they were like them to reach them.

Don't you see the absurdity of Christmas? No wealthy business man would do this. No president would ever do this. No king in history would ever do this. Yet, the supreme being over the universe came close to the trash dumps and has His Son be born in these conditions so that He could show the people He was all for them. It wasn't a publicity stunt. It wasn't an event that happened, then 3 hours later they took them away to normal hospital for good care. It wasn't a just push through the first month to say we did it, then we can move on. It was this idea that "I will live with you. I will be like you. I will go through everything you will, and I will use none of my Daddy's resources to make things easier on me. In fact, I'll go through everything you have to and everything others have to go through too, just to make sure I don't miss anything. I'll go through everything and more - because I'm THAT invested in you." 

I'm afraid if this doesn't mess up a little bit, we've been in church too long. God, may this never lose it's touch and power in our lives. Let it drive us to invest in God this much and invest in His heart this much.  This is the absurdity of Christmas - the incarnation.

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." John 1:14