Wake Up, Look Up

[Music]

hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach wck

and in today's episode we're asking the

question when does Christmas start this

is prompted by an article that I read in

the Atlantic recently by Elizabeth

brunig who was kind of saying that she

really loves Christmas and she was

arguing why it's perfectly acceptable

beginning in November to start

decorating and celebrating Christmas I I

should say this episode is partly

prompted by that article it's also

prompted by my own wife's love of

Christmas and the fact that she's

already listening to Christmas music and

if I allowed it my house would be

decorated already but I don't allow it

that's because for me it cheapens

Christmas if you start it too early but

I have to say the Atlantic article makes

a great case there are kind of three

things that she brings out that I think

are really important for us to think

about as Christians but one is that

Christmas resonates with us because we

have kind of a longing for Wonder it's a

break from the mundane a break from the

regular it's it's something special

something different something new but we

also have a longing for Hope Christmas

is relentlessly optimistic it's the idea

that something magical can happen

something wonderful is just coming

around the corner and of course we have

a longing for community and Community is

important at Christmas because it's

often a time which we gather with our

friends and family people that we care

about and people who care about us uh

what brunig is arguing is that we're

celebrating earlier and earlier not just

because companies are trying to get us

to spend money earlier but because

increasingly more than ever maybe we are

longing for Wonder and for Hope and for

community and I have to say as I read

the article it was challenging because

that is exactly what the Bible tells us

is there for us in the Christmas story

that the coming of Jesus Is So Exciting

to us because it is a break from the

mundane not just the routine and boring

but from the regular Brokenness of our

world it is an answer to our longing for

Hope because it resonates with us that

God is doing something that as it says

in Matthew 1 Jesus has come to rescue

his people from their sins and of course

it is about Community because what

happens at Christmas is what makes us

part of the church and the kingdom of

God in other words I think there's a

great spiritual argument that maybe our

friends and family who want to celebrate

early are actually on to something they

don't want to wait for the good news of

Christmas so I'm not telling you you

have to decorate or listen to music just

yet but maybe be a little more

sympathetic to those who are eager to

inject their lives with some hope with

some Joy with some Community but also

consider this that even if you're not

ready to decorate yet or to put on the

Christmas music yet you certainly could

use just like I could a dose of

Christmas in your life at least by

leaning into the good news of what God

has done in Jesus that way the

celebration of the biblical Christmas

isn't really about when you start

listening to music or when you start

decorating the house it's about opening

yourself up every day to the idea that

there's more to life than the mundane

that hope is always present and that

you're a part of a greater Kingdom

because of Jesus and that way it's

always Christmas time and please no one

send this episode to my wife hey thanks

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