What was the first Christmas like for Jesus? He left his Heavenly home, throne, and came to a sinful world. He was stripped of dignity. He was robbed of honor. He was humbled to a manager. He was a helpless babe. He was without home with a temporary family willing to take him in. He became true love in the flesh.
Just typing those words overwhelm my soul with such a deep gratitude, submission, reverence and reciprocal love to our Abba Father.
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Christmas is celebrated on January 7th in Serbian Orthodoxy. Only Protestant (Gospel-believing) churches and individuals celebrate on the 25th. This in itself is a statement of whom you believe in.
On December 24th I had a party for youth from any summer camp over the last four years. Though 27 were committed, 16 people came. As a cultural norm, 11 cancelled the day of. We played reverse charades, identified Christmas carols while having giant marshmallows in our mouths, raced to create human snowmen from toilet paper, competed to be first to unravel a Saran wrapped ball of treats and spent an evening sharing American Christmas game fun, music and foods.
One student had her own birthday party following this party. However, because of her fun here, she left an hour after her OWN party started.
To my foolishness thinking all 27 would still come, I was sad 11 individuals cancelled, yet of course God orchestrated His perfect way. A student from Cyprus from my Serbian school came all the way from Novi Sad, a city 1:15 hours away via bus. Due to a misunderstanding of bus delays, he also attended church with the us the next morning. Coming from an Orthodox culture and upbringing, he had never been in a church that actually gave a sermon about the Bible, verses simply "singing" hymns from it. He heard the Gospel in a very reciprocal-welcomed way, and he expressed curiousity and enjoyment from what he heard. (Continue to pray for his repentence and heart's acknowledgement of a need for the Savior.) What is even cooler, the youth of our church shared the story of our sweet Savior through a Christmas play.
Following our Sunday morning service, the pastor and his wife invited me to their home to join their family and daughter-in-law's family for Christmas together (10 plus myself in total). The daughter-in-law's family only heard of my coming literally the morning of. I and the pastor's family knew two days in advance. I was blessed to be taken in and loved as their own. It was so humbling to feel "without family" and have this family so graciously treat me as their own.
Each year this family takes family Christmas photos. All the women wore dresses from the same material one of the mothers sowed. As I joined a little last notice, the mother gave me a bow of the same material to make me match. They did not take even ONE photo without me; I was apart of the family. Even though I didn't know traditional norms with them, they just grabbed me and showed me "the ropes" to fit right in.Each family member makes or buys gifts for each other family member. All of that individual's gifts are placed in a pile, and we all watch as that person opens. Though one of the two families had literally one hour in prep, I STILL recieved all the same gifts as the others. From the 10 year old daughter, I recieved the most precious, home-made, leaking snowglobe with a toy polar bear inside. From the older sister, I recieved a freshly cooked "cake in a jar." From their parents, I recieved chocolate from their family trip to Greece just as all the kids recieved. From the other side, I recieved a Skype care package of snacks to enjoy with my family in the states as the other family recieved a family movie night care package. From our pastor and his wife I recieved a winter hat, pens, and keychain; again, just as all their kids recieved. From their daughter I recieved a Kinder egg (as we don't have these in the states) and three sweet wooden ornaments. And from them all, I recieved a second family full of loving arms.
Language was no barrier. During games I was given a kid-like handicap so that I could play along in Serbian as well. For me, it was humbling to be an almost 25 year-old who has the language capacity of a child yet treated with such dignity in that regard.
When the emotion of being away from my real family overcame me, my Serbian mother just hugged me without words, just a loving embrace. This reminded me, home is not of this world. Family is a temporary gift (don't take it for granted), and from this day forward, though there is no Biblical evidence, I believe in Heaven, there is no remembrance of our earthly family. The bride of Christ is our family. We are ALL His together in His loving arms.
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That small glimpse, that miniscal feeling of homelessness, that moment of aloneness, that humbling of being languageless and being without family, gave me the smallest broken heart for our Savior (and I stress SMALL as our earthly being has no understanding of what He went through). A broken heart that stirs immediate praise, love, gratitude and reverence to our Lord and Father. My heart remains in awe of our Savior's perfect love that we can't even understand. What a loving, gracious, humble, perfect Savior we have the gift to recieve and have personal walk with.
Each of those gifts I recieved were not a snowglobe, a ornament, a piece of chocolate, they were love from above, a symbol of His love.
Sitting around a table of seemingly strangers doing seemingly strange activity, eating seemingly strange food, allowed me to reflect on the strange world Jesus was brought to, all for the sake of love, His perfect love.
And what's even more, because students cancelled coming to the party, now I have and will continue to meet these 11 on one-to-one bases instead, having deeply, more real conversations, including a student from Nis who will come for several days this weekend for New Years whom I have asked you to pray for many times before.
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What is Christmas? It is about a perfect Father, leaving His perfect home, giving us the perfect gift of love through His perfect Son and our perfect Savior.
Though I know this; though I would like to say I have celebrated Christmas every year, I know now I have never truly celebrated until this year, being taken away from the commercialized distractions (though I have fooled myself in thinking I have many times before) and being humbled without language or my earthly, biological family, I have truly experienced that Christmas is all about His giving selflessly to us.
"And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." Philippians 2:8-10
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