Is Christmas all about presents or presence?

As of today, there are less than two weeks until Christmas. And as we get closer and closer to December 25^th, we are bombarded with more and more reminders that Christmas is getting closer. There are more and more Christmas songs played on the radio. There are more and more advertisements about Christmas sales that are going on in stores and shopping malls.

And there are more and more reminders from those who are close to us about what they would like for Christmas. You know, those conversations that start something like this: “it would be great if I only had this. You know, I have always wanted that. What is your favorite music? Because I really love this group. Did you know that Jane just got the new I-phone and it is so cool”. Or my personal favorite “you know, if I just had one of these, it would make your life so much easier”.

However, those reminders and conversations go both ways, don’t they? We are not only receiving subtle reminders that Christmas is coming and subtle and not so subtle suggestions regarding gift ideas. We are also providing reminders and suggestions about what we want to receive for Christmas. Because, at the end of the day, Christmas in our culture is about the presents. Christmas in our culture is driven by the presents we receive from others and Christmas in our culture is driven by the presents that we give to others.

And everything around us reinforces that reality. The advertising on TV and radio reinforces the important of presents. The scenes in the stores and the shopping malls reinforce the importance of presents. The conversations that we have with those around us reinforce the importance of presents. And our desire to get just the right gift for someone reinforces the importance of presents.

Now, it is not that I think that presents are wrong; I am just wondering what impact those presents have in our lives. After all the energy and effort that we expend on finding just the right present for that special someone, have you ever found yourself disappointed in the response to the present?  For example, have you ever watched with amazement as a child opened their present that you thought was perfect for them, that you thought that they really wanted, only to watch them spend an entire day playing with the box that the present came in instead of the present? Or have you ever watched and wondered as a gift that was so desperately desired by someone ends up gathering dust in a closet only a few weeks after its arrival?

And we are all guilty of this, aren’t we? If you do not think that you are guilty, let me ask you a question: What presents did you get for Christmas last year? Do you remember how many presents you received last year? Or who gave them to you? Or where they are today? Are you having trouble answering those questions? I had a hard time answering these questions myself.

But why is it so hard to answer those questions? And why do we as a culture spend so much time and energy on presents? Could it be that the reason that we have a hard time answering these questions is because the presents that we received really did not have the lasting impact that we thought that they would have? Could it be that the presents that we thought would fulfill a desire and need in our lives ended up being unable to fill that need? Could it be that Christmas can become about the wrong kind of presents.

Could it be that the reason why Christmas is the most stressful and depressing season of the year for many people is due to the fact that there is a lack of presents? Now I am not talking about a lack of presents; I am talking about a lack of presence. Maybe it is the lack of the presence of a close family member or friend who has passed away. Or maybe it is the lack of the presence of a significant relationship in our life. Or maybe it is the lack of the presence of meaning and purpose in life.

You see, Christmas began not so that we could experience presents; Christmas began so that all of humanity would have the opportunity to experience God’s presence. Christmas is all about God revealing His presence in the most radical way imaginable, so that all of humanity could know that God was real and that God was present and active in the world.

Whether you are a follower of Jesus; or whether you don’t buy the whole Jesus, Bible, church thing. Whether you regularly attend church or whether the only reason that you attend church is because someone agreed to buy you lunch if you came to church with them, all of humanity has some recognition and need of God’s presence. And intuitively, we know this to be true, don’t we?

That is why no one goes up to a casket at a funeral and proclaims “oh, so that’s’ what happens, you just stop breathing and they put you in a box in the ground. Now it all makes sense”. We would never do that because intuitively, we all sense that there is something bigger than this life. Intuitively we sense that there is something beyond this life. Intuitively, we all sense a sense of a presence that we desire to experience in our life. We sense the need for this presence in our lives and we search for a way to connect with this presence. And we feel the frustration that comes from what seems to be the fleeting and elusive presence of God.

But why does God and God’s presence in our lives seem so fleeting and elusive? And why do we desperately need God’s presence? To answer these questions, I would like for us to spend our time together looking at a section of a letter that is recorded in our Bibles called the book of Isaiah. Now the book of Isaiah was written some 2700 years ago to the Jewish people, during a time when the Jewish people had begun to question God’s presence.

You see, this generation of Jewish people had heard of the stories of God presence as He delivered the Jewish people from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt. This generation of Jewish people had heard the stories of God’s presence as He led the Jewish people into the land that He had promised to give them. This generation had heard the stories of God’s presence with King David as the Jewish people had become the most powerful and prosperous nation on the planet. This generation had heard the stories of when King Solomon had built the temple and God’s presence so filled the temple that no one was able to even enter it.

However, the generation of Jewish people in Isaiah’s day was not experiencing God’s presence in their lives. To this generation, God seemed to be distant and disinterested. This generation was not seeing God’s presence and activity in their lives. There were unanswered prayers. There was a decline in the health and the wealth of the nation. There was a sense that the nation was on the decline and that God was nowhere to be found.

And it is in this context that we are going to jump into this section of this letter. And it is in this section of this letter that we will discover the reason why God’s presence is so desperately elusive and so desperately needed. So let’s look at this section of this letter together, beginning in Isaiah 59:1:

Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.

Here we see the prophet Isaiah responding to the cries and frustrations of the Jewish people of his day. The Jewish people had recognized that God’s presence was not longer present. And the Jewish people responded to the fact that God’s presence was no longer present by questioning God’s nature and character. The Jewish people were questioning whether or not God was able to deliver and rescue them from the difficulties and challenges that they were beginning to experience. The Jewish people were questioning whether or not God was even paying attention to their situation. The Jewish people were questioning and beginning to think that God had changed; that God was the problem.

Maybe you can relate to these questions. Maybe you find yourself asking whether God is real and active. Maybe you find yourself in a place where God is not present. Or maybe God has never felt present in your life.

Isaiah responded to the Jewish people questioning the nature and character of God in this verse by basically saying “God has not changed and God has not moved. God is the same God that was present and active throughout the history of the Jewish people. God is still able to rescue and deliver”.

You see, God was still paying attention to the Jewish people. And today, God is still the same. God is still fully aware and fully capable of engaging and acting. The problem was not and is not with God. Now an initial reaction to what I just said could be: “Well, if that is the case, then what is the problem”?

Tomorrow, we will answer that question…