Dumpster Christmas

Last night at Solid Rock Youth we did something different to celebrate Christmas. We didn't go to a barn with hay and quiet animals - to romantic. We didn't go for a road trip to look at the lights. We didn't have a carol sing, Christmas cookies, or watch a Christmas movie - all fine things, but for other times.

We went to a dumpster. Well, actually several dumpsters in a dimly lit alley. 

Why? To recapture something that can easily be lost. Sometimes in as we celebrate Christmas we lose sight of the awe and wonder of our God who was born in human form. We easily miss that he wasn't born in a palace or some other important / rich / powerful / majestic / romantic / beautiful setting. Our God came in human form to be born in a noisy, smelly stable. Jesus laid in the place where barn animals were fed. Jesus was born to a peasant couple who had no place to have their baby in private.

What's more - Jesus was born to an unwed couple, who likely were looked down on in their communities for being pregnant and not married. He was born to a mother who had never been a mother before - a young girl who responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” [Luke 1:38]

So we went to a dumpster. Sometimes we forget that Jesus left the majesty and power of Heaven to come to Earth and endure the stench of sin, to live in our world and to draw attention to His Kingdom. Jesus came to people who live in the poverty of sin every day - we do, even if we don't realize it. 

If we think in our minds of Heaven being like [but so much better than] all the important, powerful Kingdoms of our world - then Earth is like a dumpster. 

And that, is where Jesus came because he loves us and chose to redeem us.