Presents vs. Presence

A few years ago, while attending a December church service, as I sat watching the children’s sermon and reflecting on Christmas, my mind wandered to what Christmas has become in contrast to what it once was.

The thought arose about the meaning of Christmas, and the meanings we’ve given it. A word play popped in mind—Presents vs. Presence. Ultimately, I think this is where we’ve displaced the Hope of the birth of Christ with the luxury of Christmas. I find it ultimately ironic that we’ve traded presence for presents. We’ve traded inexhaustible joy in finding eternal Hope for temporary gratification in meeting immediate wants.

Christmas celebrates the joy of the coming of Christ into the world, the incarnation of God in human form through the precious vessel of an infant. This gift ultimately finds us reaching under a tree not glistening with tensile and lights and beautiful decorations, but a horrid one adorned with thorns, nails, splinters, and a little sign that read “The King of the Jews.” In our reaching, we don’t find ourselves grasping for beautifully wrapped objects, the result of some list poured over in wanton fury, but for the blood of a king who not so long ago we laid our gifts to at the foot of a manger.

The greatest irony might be that at Christmas we celebrate a birth, and at Easter we mourn a death. Maybe we have this backwards. Maybe at Christmas we should be mourning the need for a Savior, and at Easter, celebrating His final act of Grace. Maybe at Christmas we should be filled with compassion for an infant God, who would experience the frailty of humanity and the sickness of sin—innocence in the face of evil. Maybe at Easter we should be filled with praise for the power of Christ conquering those very evils.

Either way, the coming of the infant was something vastly more important than the celebration and trading of gifts. It is the difference between presents and presence. The coming of Christ is the gift of presence, not the gift of presents. It is the Godhead mingling with us footprints in the sand. It is His presence with us, walking with us, mourning with us, rejoicing with us. It is the epitome of the joy of parenthood and the desire and longing of every child.

Sadly, we’ve degraded this beautiful expression of God’s love into the trading of trinkets, and the season of want. The coming of Christ had nothing to do with what we wanted but had everything to do with what we needed—to walk hand in hand with our Father in heaven.
This Christmas, may you see the Joy and Hope of presence. May you understand that presents cannot replace your presence in the lives of your children and youth. As your children tire of this year’s presents, may your presence be ever more tireless. And may Christ meet your needs through His presence in your life transforming your wants to presents that cannot decay or be destroyed.

God bless you and yours, and may you have a Very Merry Christmas