Going Home for Christmas
Everyone wants to know. "Where are you going for Christmas?' How many times are you asked that question this time of the year? Quite a few. And most of the time we will answer, "Well, we are going home for Christmas (wherever home is)." Isn't it interesting that we go home for a lot of things. Whenever someone dies that was very dear to us, we go "home" for the funeral. Frequently, they are buried in the "hometown" cemetery. When there are problems in our lives and we need help, we go "home" and we talk to those people who are very dear to us and we love what they have to say. Most of all, we love their support.
We also go "home" to celebrate. The meaningful moments in life are more meaningful if you can celebrate with someone who is very dear. So...when it comes Christmas time, we want to go home and celebrate this most precious time of the year with the people who are so very dear to us. We go "home." We do this if we can. Sometimes, we cannot do it because of our schedules. Sometimes, perhaps, it costs too much to fly that far. Sometimes we have no geographical home in which to go. And other times, parents and relatives are dead, and there is no place that we call "home" to which we can go. We frequently have that problem in our household. Where do we go now when Christmas comes, for all of our parents are dead.....they have all died since we have been in Clinton. It's a little bit of a dilemma.
You go home in spirit. But in your own mind, you go back and relive many of those precious experiences that were yours. In my own mind, I remember so well the anticipation of Christmas. Life was rather dull and drab at times, and there were very few things that were exciting. But Christmas gave a note of expectation of excitement to life. We looked forward to Christmas months in advance. I also remember the participation of Christmas. The whole family got involved in it. One of the fondest memories that I have of Christmas is that of securing the Christmas tree. In our household we always used a cedar tree. For may years, I could not imagine having any kind of tree other than a cedar tree. Ah, it would smell so good in the living room. We usually got the Christmas tree in a very simple manner. My older sisters and I , and sometimes younger brother, would set out, going over hillsides, looking for a well-shaped tree. According to the custom in our area, we did not ask the landowner if we could cut the tee....it was just the accepted thing to do. No one would fuss if you cut and old cedar tree for Christmas. So we wondered across the hillsides until we found one that we wanted and we took it home, put it in the living room.....for we all lived in the living room....that was where the fire was. And the old cedar tree would dry out in a few days and it became a fire hazard. So you did not keep the Christmas tree for very long. But it was a meaningful tradition in our family....going out to secure the Christmas tree.
Well, we can go home in that sense....in spirit...all of us then can go home in one way or another at Christmas. But I think we need to take it a step further than that. We need to do more than just go home to our parents and to the people that are very dear to us. We need to go home in a sense that we go back to the origin of Christmas. Home is the place of origin and our true spiritual home is with Christ. At Christmas time, we are called to go back to the very beginning, like John stated in his gospel, and look at the word that was made flesh; to look at the light that has come into the world. I love what he had to say here, when he talked about the light which was Christ, that came into the world, and the world comprehended it not. That passage of scripture could be translated in many ways. It could say "The world did not apprehend the light; did not comprehend it; it did not overtake it; or did not extinguish it. The essential truth that John is saying here is "in all the darkness that had engulfed humanity, Christ came and he was the light, and all the darkness could not extinguish the light." The darkness could not put the light out. And that great symbol is so much a part of life. We need to examine it at Christmastime.
I like to think of the gospel being like a lighted candle in a window on the darkest night. For in our wold, there is so much darkness, so much hate, so much rebellion, so much futility, so much hopelessness, so much that we characterize as being darkness. And Christ comes and He is the light. He gains our attention; he illuminates our pathway; He gives us hope, a sense of direction in our living days. We need to stop and behold that light! Someone has done a study of the past 3,000 years and has come up with the figure that in 13 out of every 14 years, there is a war going on in our world. Thirteen out of fourteen years of strife. And at times, we get to feeling that we are being engulfed by the darkness. But Christmas reminds us that we should not despair, for there is a light that is burning. The year 1809 was a dark year. Many people in Europe felt that darkness had engulfed the entire continent. Napoleon was on his conquest, but in the year 1809, in all the darkness, a light was still burning. Abraham Lincoln was born. Oliver Wendell Holmes was born. The great Gladstone was born. Mendelssohn and others....greatness was being born in the darkest hour. The Civil War was a dark time in our history. It was a dark time for many of our ancestors. I had 2 great grandfathers who fought in the Civil War here in East TN. They fought for the North. I was reading one day about the experiences one of them had. It was a horrible experience. The weather was cold; the snow was sometimes 1-2 feet deep. Many died of starvation, and many died because of the bullets of a neighbor and friend. It was hell and in that darkest experience, a poet wrote, " I heard the bells on Christmas Day, their old familiar carols play. And wild and sweet, the words repeat of peace on Earth, good will to men. And in despair I bowed my head, there is no peace on Earth I said. For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on Earth, good will to men. Then pealed the bells more loud and deep. God is not dead nor does he sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail with peace on Earth, good will to men. Till ringing, singing on its way, the world revolves from night to day. A voice, a chime, a chant sublime, of peace on Earth, good will to men." When was that written? 1863, in the middle of the Civil War.....a light was burning.
One of my strongest memories of my teenage period was coming home late at night. I had a job working in a grocery store, and sometimes I worked until 10 or 11 o'clock at night. I had to walk home after I had worked 12-14 hours a day. When I was making my way home, late at night, there was always a light burning in the household. If everyone had gone to bed, a light would still be burning. In all that darkness, all that tiredness, in all that frustration, I could always go home. A light was burning. Most of the time someone was up to greet me. That was the hope that I had in my life at that time. In all your frustration, in all of your hopelessness, in all of your despair, in all the darkness that engulfs you at this Christmas season, look for the candle that is burning in the window of God, suggesting that there is a home for you. And because there is a home in which you can go, you have hope.
A lady suggested to me just a few days ago, "When you don't have hope, you don't have much." But we have much because we have the light burning. John in his scripture says, "And the light shineth." The great truth is not just that the light was shining years go, but that the light IS shining now. The light shines in the darkness, and hopefully, those of us who sit in darkness will behold the light, will comprehend the light, will take that light into our lives and the hope will cause us to experience new birth, a new sense of purpose in the living of our days.
It was said of the Quakers, when they came over to America, that they made an impression on others. There is a log on a ship which has a statement about them that is written over the fireplace in Irwin College in Richmond, Indiana. It says, "They gathered sticks and kindled a fire and left it burning." God has done that for us in Jesus Christ. The fire is still burning, and the light is still visible. We can become warmed by it and we can take that light and show it to others. Let's go home for Christmas!
Samuel D. Dean
First Baptist Church
Clinton, TN
December 21, 1986
We also go "home" to celebrate. The meaningful moments in life are more meaningful if you can celebrate with someone who is very dear. So...when it comes Christmas time, we want to go home and celebrate this most precious time of the year with the people who are so very dear to us. We go "home." We do this if we can. Sometimes, we cannot do it because of our schedules. Sometimes, perhaps, it costs too much to fly that far. Sometimes we have no geographical home in which to go. And other times, parents and relatives are dead, and there is no place that we call "home" to which we can go. We frequently have that problem in our household. Where do we go now when Christmas comes, for all of our parents are dead.....they have all died since we have been in Clinton. It's a little bit of a dilemma.
You go home in spirit. But in your own mind, you go back and relive many of those precious experiences that were yours. In my own mind, I remember so well the anticipation of Christmas. Life was rather dull and drab at times, and there were very few things that were exciting. But Christmas gave a note of expectation of excitement to life. We looked forward to Christmas months in advance. I also remember the participation of Christmas. The whole family got involved in it. One of the fondest memories that I have of Christmas is that of securing the Christmas tree. In our household we always used a cedar tree. For may years, I could not imagine having any kind of tree other than a cedar tree. Ah, it would smell so good in the living room. We usually got the Christmas tree in a very simple manner. My older sisters and I , and sometimes younger brother, would set out, going over hillsides, looking for a well-shaped tree. According to the custom in our area, we did not ask the landowner if we could cut the tee....it was just the accepted thing to do. No one would fuss if you cut and old cedar tree for Christmas. So we wondered across the hillsides until we found one that we wanted and we took it home, put it in the living room.....for we all lived in the living room....that was where the fire was. And the old cedar tree would dry out in a few days and it became a fire hazard. So you did not keep the Christmas tree for very long. But it was a meaningful tradition in our family....going out to secure the Christmas tree.
Well, we can go home in that sense....in spirit...all of us then can go home in one way or another at Christmas. But I think we need to take it a step further than that. We need to do more than just go home to our parents and to the people that are very dear to us. We need to go home in a sense that we go back to the origin of Christmas. Home is the place of origin and our true spiritual home is with Christ. At Christmas time, we are called to go back to the very beginning, like John stated in his gospel, and look at the word that was made flesh; to look at the light that has come into the world. I love what he had to say here, when he talked about the light which was Christ, that came into the world, and the world comprehended it not. That passage of scripture could be translated in many ways. It could say "The world did not apprehend the light; did not comprehend it; it did not overtake it; or did not extinguish it. The essential truth that John is saying here is "in all the darkness that had engulfed humanity, Christ came and he was the light, and all the darkness could not extinguish the light." The darkness could not put the light out. And that great symbol is so much a part of life. We need to examine it at Christmastime.
I like to think of the gospel being like a lighted candle in a window on the darkest night. For in our wold, there is so much darkness, so much hate, so much rebellion, so much futility, so much hopelessness, so much that we characterize as being darkness. And Christ comes and He is the light. He gains our attention; he illuminates our pathway; He gives us hope, a sense of direction in our living days. We need to stop and behold that light! Someone has done a study of the past 3,000 years and has come up with the figure that in 13 out of every 14 years, there is a war going on in our world. Thirteen out of fourteen years of strife. And at times, we get to feeling that we are being engulfed by the darkness. But Christmas reminds us that we should not despair, for there is a light that is burning. The year 1809 was a dark year. Many people in Europe felt that darkness had engulfed the entire continent. Napoleon was on his conquest, but in the year 1809, in all the darkness, a light was still burning. Abraham Lincoln was born. Oliver Wendell Holmes was born. The great Gladstone was born. Mendelssohn and others....greatness was being born in the darkest hour. The Civil War was a dark time in our history. It was a dark time for many of our ancestors. I had 2 great grandfathers who fought in the Civil War here in East TN. They fought for the North. I was reading one day about the experiences one of them had. It was a horrible experience. The weather was cold; the snow was sometimes 1-2 feet deep. Many died of starvation, and many died because of the bullets of a neighbor and friend. It was hell and in that darkest experience, a poet wrote, " I heard the bells on Christmas Day, their old familiar carols play. And wild and sweet, the words repeat of peace on Earth, good will to men. And in despair I bowed my head, there is no peace on Earth I said. For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on Earth, good will to men. Then pealed the bells more loud and deep. God is not dead nor does he sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail with peace on Earth, good will to men. Till ringing, singing on its way, the world revolves from night to day. A voice, a chime, a chant sublime, of peace on Earth, good will to men." When was that written? 1863, in the middle of the Civil War.....a light was burning.
One of my strongest memories of my teenage period was coming home late at night. I had a job working in a grocery store, and sometimes I worked until 10 or 11 o'clock at night. I had to walk home after I had worked 12-14 hours a day. When I was making my way home, late at night, there was always a light burning in the household. If everyone had gone to bed, a light would still be burning. In all that darkness, all that tiredness, in all that frustration, I could always go home. A light was burning. Most of the time someone was up to greet me. That was the hope that I had in my life at that time. In all your frustration, in all of your hopelessness, in all of your despair, in all the darkness that engulfs you at this Christmas season, look for the candle that is burning in the window of God, suggesting that there is a home for you. And because there is a home in which you can go, you have hope.
A lady suggested to me just a few days ago, "When you don't have hope, you don't have much." But we have much because we have the light burning. John in his scripture says, "And the light shineth." The great truth is not just that the light was shining years go, but that the light IS shining now. The light shines in the darkness, and hopefully, those of us who sit in darkness will behold the light, will comprehend the light, will take that light into our lives and the hope will cause us to experience new birth, a new sense of purpose in the living of our days.
It was said of the Quakers, when they came over to America, that they made an impression on others. There is a log on a ship which has a statement about them that is written over the fireplace in Irwin College in Richmond, Indiana. It says, "They gathered sticks and kindled a fire and left it burning." God has done that for us in Jesus Christ. The fire is still burning, and the light is still visible. We can become warmed by it and we can take that light and show it to others. Let's go home for Christmas!
Samuel D. Dean
First Baptist Church
Clinton, TN
December 21, 1986
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