Firstly, for those of you who don't know, in later September Molly and I found out that we’re going to have a baby! Since I can’t see any of your faces I can only assume that you are jumping up and down with joy for us. Even if your not I chose to believe that you are.
Molly’s due date is May 31st but I guess she thinks she is going to be late so the baby will probably be born early June. At this point we don’t know the gender of the baby but we are pretty excited either way. I for one, am torn between hoping for a boy or a girl, for me I am excited about both. However, Molly really wants a little boy first, in order to fill the “older brother” role for any future children.
Right now Molly is in her 16th week so we should get to learn the gender in early January, at least we’re going to have Molly’s doctor tells us the gender because I have never been able to make anything out on those ultrasounds.
Now while I am excited about having a child and I do look forward to future Christmas' with the little guy or gal, I have been feeling a bit subdued lately. With the onset of Christmas I have been reflecting on how our world views and treats Christmas. The message of Jesus seems to be increasingly drowned out in the noise of shopping malls and ipods and the images of Santa and Reindeer become offensive to people because of their overt religious symbolism. (Question: When did Santa and his Reindeer become religious symbols of Christmas and of Jesus?)
As I look around the world and I see "Christian" nations where people live their whole lives not connecting Christmas with Jesus. Did you know that only 6% of the population of Great Britain attends church regularly? And only about 40% regularly attend church in the U.S. but even here people are forgetting. It broke my heart when I read the statistic about Great Britain, to think of all those people who see Christianity as a tradition as a label and not something you live out.
I wonder, what kind of world is my child being born into? When I look at "Christian" nations I see something that scares me, its not hate, fear, or even encroachment of other religions, what scares me is that faith in Jesus has become irrelevant. Its not that people hate Jesus or Christianity its that people are indifferent towards Jesus. People don't even know what Jesus is about in order to hate him or love him, rather he has been replaced with Santa.
Wow, this is kind of depressing huh? Well I just wanted to share something I have been reflecting on. I hope you all have a great Christmas! May the Lord Jesus bless you and keep you!
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1 comment:
I know what you mean about the whole materialistic, non-religious stigma that Christmas now seems to produce...and we really took that into consideration with Aloria this year. Aaron and I tried to think of some things that would make the season more meaningful. We celebrated St. Nicholas Day...talked about how he was a real person who loved Jesus, and got the whole Santa thing over and done with early (not that she understood)...and then celebrated advent (four weeks before Christmas). We read a scripture, prayed and sang "This little light of mine"...this she loved! She even started to get the motions down :-) Hopefully as she grows up and we stick with our new traditions, she will understand the true meaning of Christmas. Good luck with your own traditions and fun times ahead with your new little one!!!
Love,
Nessie
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