Arise! Shine! Your light has come;
    the Lord’s glory has shone upon you.
Though darkness covers the earth
    and gloom the nations,
    the Lord will shine upon you;
    God’s glory will appear over you. – Isaiah 60:1-2

We are only – as of today – at the very beginning of the second week of Advent. Yet Christmas is coming up fast and there is still so much to be done. Like most special times, of course, this time of the year is as much about the journey as it is the destination.

This is why I am so glad that today is also a communion Sunday. In Presbyterian tradition, The Lord’s Supper is celebrated on the first Sunday of every month, plus special occasions such as Christmas Eve and Maundy Thursday.

Taking pause to share the bread and the wine is a great opportunity to put the brakes on the mad rush and remember the powerful and purposeful connection between the birth of the infant Jesus (wrapped in bands of cloth and laid in a manger) and that last meal with his closest friends the day before his cruel death on the cross (wrapped in bands of cloth and placed in the tomb). Resting in a manger a foreshadowing of being laid to rest in a vault.

It matters that we keep this in view because otherwise Christmas becomes a kind of Hallmark Holiday Special with no bite. The incarnation – this coming to Earth as a vulnerable human child – was a game-changer: inventive, loving and infinitely brave. It is no walk in the park to be born to displaced people and at the mercy of unsympathetic and intentionally intimidating government agents. To be sure, the infant Jesus had some grit.

So today, if you possibly have the chance, get yourself to a church where communion is being served, where The Lord’s Table is open to all, and where you can take the kind of deep breath that is necessary – where we all can take that deep breath – if there is to be any chance of a meaningful Christmas on down the road.

Christmas is little more than an appealing children’s story outside of the context of the teachings of Jesus, the cross, and the empty tomb.

And this year, I believe more than ever that what we need is the whole thing: the love, the gift, the glory, the sacrifice, the resurrection, the bread and the wine. In short, this world needs Jesus. Jesus the newborn child, Jesus the challenging teacher, and Christ the resurrected king.

This is the story – DEREK