I'm well aware that December 25 was not likely the birth of Jesus. But that fact does not change the fact that it is the date many Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. That and the upcoming New Year make it an appropriate time for reflection and planning for the upcoming year.
For those of you who are not familiar with my Hobo's Listblog, I spent my Christmas Eve and Christmas Day feeding Amarillo's homeless without the permit the city requires for such action.
Christmas Eve went off with nary a hitch (I had to bail at 3, though, leaving Rusty Tomlinson and Joseph Hayes to man the feeding table (Joseph went all 8 hours both days!). But Christmas Day was different. The snow began in earnest shortly after we set up and continued on until just before we were finishing up, at times limiting visibility to less than 500 feet. As the snow melted on the cuff of my pants it numbed my skin, and late in the day despite taking breaks to the van to warm up, I was beginning to fear the possibility of frostbite.
The snow was, in all honesty, probably the best Christmas present I could have received. Not only did it give me pause to reflect on the reality of homelessness, but equal pause to reflect on what it truly means to be a Christian.
I wish I could say I made the connection immediately, but it wasn't until later in the week, lulled by the hum of my van's engine as I drove the width of the Texas Panhandle, that I began to think about the significance of the storm in relation to my faith.
Before Jesus was crucified, not only did he endure the taunts of the crowd, but 39 lashes, literally to the edge of death. On that fateful day when he was burdened with the load of the cross, this once strong carpenter was weakened and humiliated to a point of exhaustion...yet even in His weakened state, He still had to carry the cross to the point of His execution.
Not only did He bear this burden but He instructed us in Matthew 16:24 to follow His example, to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. The implication was that WE had a burden to bear and a price to pay if we count ourselves as Jesus' followers.
In Deitrich Bonhoeffer's book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer makes mention of "cheap grace". He describes it as follows:
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate
Somewhere along the way, we've allowed cheap grace to dominate our doctrine. "Checkbook charity" has replaced personal investment, and grace has been reduced to little more than a shiny bauble obtained by a walk up the aisle during the longest playing of "Just as I Am" ever played. We've missed the commands to heal the sick, feed the poor visit those in prison, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. In fact, if we even KNOW our neighbor, we are a rarity.
In the late hours of our Christmas feeding, the reality of what it means to truly serve Christ was once again impressed on me. I had certainly understood it before, but there is something about enduring beyond where you thought you could that puts an indelible stamp on it.
As the New Year approaches, I would like to encourage everyone to seek out opportunities to live their faith in ways that truly demonstrate the presence of Christ in your lives. Do hard things, push yourselves beyond your comfort zone and live your faith out loud. It is, I believe, what the world needs most right now.
