As the Christmas season approaches there is a flury of activity beginning with Christmas shopping. You know, the attempt to get that one of a kind gift for the person who has everything! From Black Friday to Cyber Monday, even Giving Tuesday is getting in on the potential for gift giving. Gift giving and the search for that perfect gift tug at our emotional heart strings.

As I ponder all the activity of gift giving and receiving I am drawn back to a situation in my own life. It is the story of the gifts of Christmas past. I was about ten or eleven at the time, and was pondering how I could get a Chtrismas gift for my Mom when I didn’t have any money. I wanted something more than those cheesy Christmas art presents you made for your parents in school,… think clay ash-trays! As I sat in the living room thinking through my dilema, something under our Christmas tree caught my attention. It was a large present that I had not noticed earlier. It was poorly wrapped with a ribbon and a big bow with a tag that said; “To Mommy, Love Johnny”. My younger brother, just fourteen months my junior, had already gotten our Mom a present. Then it came to me, the answer to my dilema. All it took was a pen and two small words added to the tag of that big present, “& Billy”! Let’s just say that Christmas mornnig did not go as planned and every year my family reminds me of my ill attempted Christmas gift-sharing scheme!

The reality is that most of us don’t really need the gifts we get. However, it is the relationship between the giver and receiver that add weight to the significance of the gift. The relational value is often far greater than any monetary value. And so it is with the gifts of Christmas present. In the classic Christmas story told in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 2, we see four gifts of Christmas that are extended to each of us. It does not matter who we are, our ethnicity, level of economic prosperity or even what we do for a living. These four gifts reflect the love of God to each individual. And here they are:

Gift # 1 A Promise kept - Luke 2:7 - The birth of Jesus fulfilled the biblical prophecies of Scripture that God would provide a way for us to deal with our sin and be restored to a right relationship with Him.

Gift #2 A Promise without distinction - Luke 2:8-10 - The promise of this promise kept was first announced to lowly shepherds at night out in the fields. There was no class division, no have’s and the have not’s. This gift was and is today extended to every individual.

Gift #3 An Eternal Promise - Luke 2:11 - this gift was not like some toy or piece of clothing that would break or wear out shortly after Christmas. A Saviour is born, and through relationship with Him our eternal destiny is secured.

Gift #4 A Personal Promise - Luke 2:15 - The shepherds believed the announcement of the angels and went to see and confirm what was told to them. When we respond in the same way, we come to Jesus and receive the gift of Christ, we are forever changed. Fear is replaced with peace, separation is replaced by belonging.

As you wonder at the gift of Christmas this year, I pray that you reflect not on that which breaks and wears out, but that which is eternal. "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11).

May the gift of Christmas truly be yours this season!

Rev. Bill Allan
AGC President

Above the Noise: The Gifts of Christmas Past and Present