By Pastor Rob McArthur
Word of Life Church
In just a short time the new Chronicles of Narnia movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, will be released in theatres. I remember the first movie, The Lion, the Witch, the Wardrobe, quite well. I remember reading the book. Narnia was under a curse, because of a witch who claimed to be queen. As a result, Narnia had become a place where it was “always winter, but never Christmas.”
How’s that for a terrible thought? Always winter, but never Christmas. Here in Alberta, our winters are long and cold. One of things that makes winter bearable is the fact we have Christmas to look forward to. How many of you managed to survive the cold snap we had a few weeks back because you knew Christmas was on the way? That’s what makes January tough. Cold weather compounded by the fact we have another two to three months of it to look forward to. Ugh.
Try to imagine, if you can, a world without Christmas. No Christmas trees. No gifts. No visits to grandma’s house. No carols. No Justin Bieber butchering Christmas carols (maybe that’s not so bad). No shopping or gathering with friends. No Grinch, Rudolph or Charlie Brown specials on TV. Most importantly, if we lived in a world that was always winter, but never Christmas, there would be no Christ.
What if Jesus had never been born? What if He had never lived, taught, died and risen from the dead? What would our world be like? What would the world be like if it was always winter but never Christmas? It would be very cold. Not just temperature wise. Cold and uncaring.
2000 years ago, the apostle Paul had the same brainwave. In his letter to the Ephesians he said, “Remember that at the time you were without Christ, having no hope and without God in the world.” No hope. That sounds like “always winter, but never Christmas”.
The great news is we have Christmas! We don’t have to live without Christ. When God came to Earth in the form of a little baby, lived sinless in our world, went to the cross for us and rose from the grave, He gave us the greatest hope. By opening up our heart to Him and asking Him to forgive our sins, we can receive His hope.
I encourage you to open up your heart to Christ this year. No more winter. Always Christmas.