I was intrigued to notice (in one of the few times I see the television) the new Christmas season Myer ad. Their tag line: Hope. Joy…Christmas.
WHAT?! Has this mega-enterprise actually got it right? Have they finally realised what this ‘season’ is all about? Have they pierced through the rubbish, the hype, the candy, the wrapping and seen the purpose and meaning behind it all?
I doubt it. After all, it’s still “MY store”.
So is Christmas about me? The store is mine apparently. As are the gifts, the happiness promised, the Christmas bonuses, the long awaited holidays —
I fear that this is just another attempt by the commercial sector to try and tap into those warm fuzzy feelings so many associate with Christmas time (yet maybe never fully experience, sadly).
But for Christians, Hope and Joy mean so much more, as does that inundated word, Christmas.
Hope. The sure and certain hope that we are saved by the grace of our Father through the death of our Lord Jesus, whose birth we (hopefully) remember and celebrate. Hope that amongst the hardships, the brokeness of this world, the suffering, the pain, the tears, God is good, just and has a purpose, and that he has promised to make all things right under (check out Revelation 21 and 22).
Joy I’m prompted to wonder if our world, our society understands joy. I know I struggle to at times. Do we lump it in with happiness and elation? Yet it promises so much more. A season of joy? A time to reflect on the overriding and overwhelming comfort that comes with knowing that God came as a man and died in my place, died so that I might live.
Paul so fervently shows us what joy is in Philippians. Verses 8-11 of chapter 3 give us a glimpse:
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…..that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Now I don’t want you to think “uh-oh, another mundane reminder that Jesus is the reason for the season” like I think we often are tempted to think. Rather, are you realising, embracing and living out the hope and joy offered to us? Are you living in joy that to live is Christ and to die is gain?

What are the presents, the good food, the holidays, the cricket? Why not scrap the mas:
Hope. Joy…Christ.