As we begin to celebrate our Savior’s birth, we wanted to share our focus for this season: Christmas doesn't have to be busy. It can be simple, just like the very first Christmas was so long ago.
We have minimal decorations in our China home and only a few celebration events. While Christmas is becoming more popular to celebrate in China, the true meaning usually does not come across. Because of this, we choose to get back to the basics. Just a simple Christmas tree, some advent candles, and a couple strand of lights. We don't need too many extravagant celebrations or an overload of decorations because that may become confusing when sharing with our friends about why we celebrate this holiday.
After all, our Savior came into this world in a simple, dirty stable in a small town with no Christmas tree, no light display, and no mantle decorations. Just a bright star and a multitude of angels praising and bringing glory to Him.Most of the parties we have in China are ones we host or help others host because many of our friends want to have American-style Christmas activities. However, sharing this time with our students and coworkers makes everything seem much more grand. Students get so excited about making and decorating Christmas cookies. We may sing Christmas carols, decorate cards, and even put up Christmas trees around the school, but we want to keep the focus on Who this is all about. Since Guangya is western-style high school, the Chinese teachers go all out in decorating for western holidays. The decorations are so fun, and they give us opportunities to help our coworkers and students understand the deeper meaning of each holiday.
Even though we must be careful in the frequency of sharing, being at our school does give us unique opportunities and chances to be bold on our campus. Telling the story of our Savior coming to earth is something we love doing during this time. It equally blesses us because we get to think about the big picture of why He came. We don’t just tell our friends the “nativity story” because we want them to understand why this is significant, so we start from the beginning. Telling them about Him creating humans, His children constantly rebelling & repenting, and His decision to send His Son to be our High Priest, ultimate sacrifice, and link to the Spirit makes our hearts swell.
He came to save us and start a relationshipo with US, such undeserving people. While we may run from His commandments, reject knowing Him, or even bring shame upon His Name, He will forgive and wipe away that guilt and shame because of his neverending mercy.
His grace and blessings are new every morning.
He has already received the victory when He died as the ultimate sacrifice for us! All we need to do is just confess, truly believe, and choose to love Him. He is always pursuing us and longing to grow closer to us, despite the short-comings and darkness in our lives.
It is a wonderful reminder to us that He is also:
WITH us (Emmanuel),
the Prince of Peace,
our Redeemer,
our King of kings,
our Everlasting Father
and our Friend.
And when it comes time for the Christmas parties and celebrations, let's keep everything simple-- and so focused on bringing Him glory, as the angels did when singing to the shepherds outside of Bethlehem.
圣诞节快乐！
[Shèngdàn jié kuàilè/Merry Christmas]