Who is on display?

There were hangings of fine white and violet linen held by cords of fine purple linen on rings of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement...according to the king's bounty...Esther 1: 6-7

It's almost that time of the year here in the US...the holidays are upon us. I looked on this passage and thought about the banners streaming in towns across the fruited plain. Iowa City has banners placed along Dubuque Street and Park for people to see as they come into town. They celebrate all sorts of occasions throughout the year, announcing events, holidays, and celebrating people of the area. And now it will be too cold and wet for them. The banners will go away until spring, I assume. The weather would just be too hard on them over the winter...but wait! Christmas decorations will be going up... the lights, the ornaments, the spectacle that has become the holidays will be upon us, and they still do the same thing. They are displayed according to the city's bounty. What they do in Rockefeller Center in NYC is far more extravagant than what we can even dream of here in a town of less than 3000. But it puts their bounty on display.

Cloth can celebrate all kinds of events...there are the banners for birthdays and weddings and special events, there are napkins folded like Christmas trees. There are table runners and candle mats to remind us of the seasons or holidays. There is abundance flowing out of cloth cornucopias, and pumpkins and corn and grapes and apples for Thanksgiving. There are stockings on mantles for Christmas. There is celebration in cloth where ever we look.

And some of it is good, and some misses the mark.

Mind you, I have made all of the family Christmas stockings...cross stitched or embroidered, they are there for the filling every year. There is the cloth Nativity, and the cross stitched Praying Santa. Some hit the mark, and some miss it. The teddy bear theme runs through the kid's stockings. They have no real significance to the real meaning of Christmas, and that is the miss. The Nativity and the Praying Santa have everything to do with it. The lights and the tree can mean something if you know what to think about...the concept of Christ bringing eternal life and being the Light of the World can strike the bullseye dead center or miss it completely.

And do you know the Scripture's word for missing the mark? It is called SIN. Wow.

I will not even go on my diatribe about a world that wants Christmas only so it can sell stuff while denying us the “privilege” of saying the WORD Christmas because it might offend someone. We want all the trappings without any of the meaning. We celebrate sales figures instead of the God who gives us the strength to work, the resources to use, and the time to live here on his good earth.

That is what Xerxes did...he celebrated himself for 180 days...he “displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty.” He sinned. He missed the mark. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His majesty...that is what many of the Psalms and Prophets tell us to do. Look on His gloriousness. Look at His bountiful provision with gratitude, not arrogance. Look at the gift of His Son as the reason to give on the Day of His first appearing on the earth. That is hitting the bullseye.

I won't be a party pooper and tell the world not to decorate, but I will still cringe at St. Nicholas being turned into a cartoon character and used as a means to get kids to behave for a couple of months. I will enjoy the colorful lights, the choosing of gifts for loved ones because we love and appreciate them, and the stuffing of stockings because the little things like giving your future son-in-law a filled stocking when he didn't expect it creates a memory. This time of year is the season of giving if we want it to be, or the season of running around fretting, working, and driving ourselves into hating the holidays. If we keep the love of God in our hearts, we can display signs of His coming to earth to save us with pure hearts and great joy. We can watch the Charlie Brown Christmas and remember that we are not the only ones who forget why we are doing this all in the first place. We can look back on the year with gratitude for the good times, and gratefulness for being held in God's hand through the rough times.

As we enter into the holiday season, let's caution our hearts against being like Xerxes and Chevy Chase and Tim Allen, putting ourselves on display. Let us seek to put Christ on display this year, and as long as we live on this earth. Then there will be peace in our hearts whether or not there is peace on earth. The one who deserve the praise will receive it and our hearts will rejoice more and more in His splendor.