It is officially the Christmas season! Lights are up in the neighbourhood. The Toronto Christmas Market is in full swing. And have I mentioned the Hallmark Christmas movies? No other signs needed.

On Sunday we began a series called Packing Light. Check it out on the website.

We are talking about getting rid of the things that weigh us down and distract us from what Christmas is really about. Essentially, we are encouraged to clean house (figuratively and literally) to make room for Jesus.

It’s so easy at this time of year to lose focus on what is important. We tend to think more about what we need to be happy, rather than the multitude ways we have been blessed. So often we come to Christmas from a place of lack. We ask our kids what they want for Christmas and we make wish lists of our own. We worry about having enough money to get everyone the gifts we’ve imagined they so desperately want.

We do all of this in celebration of the birth of Jesus, who had nearly nothing—not even a proper place to be born. Yet we proclaim this child to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Clearly there is more to Christmas than the gifts we exchange. It is the gift we receive in Christ.

The baby with “nothing” is the hope for the world.

So, here are some questions:

What do you want for Christmas?
Where do you sense lack?
How will you refocus your attention on the hope found in Jesus Christ?
How will you make room for hope this Christmas?