Once again this year, the turkey is now soup, the rolls are finished, and the freezer is much emptier than it was this time last week. It was a grand holiday and always has been my family’s favorite. I wonder how we managed to pack so much into one weekend as we welcomed friends and family from Wednesday through Sunday. Again this year we were a mixed group. Children came from the east coast; nieces, nephews, sisters, parents, in-laws all came from a few hours away; and friends from Iran came from just a couple of miles away. Strange that in this new globalized world, our foreign guests were nearer to us than family!
In the evening we put out the Christmas decorations. As per tradition, our son set up the nativity. It is a hodge podge collection of characters. It started out as a few ceramic pieces that I made when I married. As we traveled with our ministry we picked up various additions. Mozart is at the nativity. A USC Gamecock is at the nativity. St Francis of Assisi is at the nativity. Santa is there along with a musician from Turkey and a fisherman from Haiti. I could go on, but you get the idea.
Revelation mentions every tribe, language, people, and nation no less than six times. Why, I wonder? I don’t pretend to be able to interpret that incredibly complex book, but I do take away one thing. God is about the whole world. Not just our corner. Not just our people. Not just those that speak in a way we can understand. Not just those who are culturally similar. God is about all of us, all of the time. That is why I cannot imagine not sharing such a magnificent special holiday as Thanksgiving or Christmas without reminders that this season is not about glitter, glamour, and gluttony. It is about good news for every tribe, language, people and nation.