Linger

Christmas is over. 

Or is it?

If you're like many Americans, your family is already packed up and headed to the airport or back in the car, headed for home. The trash is out at the curb. The new things are finding their new places. The old things are piling up in the corner. And you're probably wondering to yourself if it's too early to start taking down the decorations. (Especially if you're in one of those places that is unseasonably warm this year, and it seems like as good a time as you're gonna get to take down those outdoor things.) 

For as much as our culture thinks we're ready to unbox Christmas in August when the stores start rolling out their displays, it seems just as certain that come December 26, we're ready to put it all away until next year. 

Maybe because we've made such a big deal about the next big thing, which is right around the corner: New Year's. We're ready to put everything away and simply start over. A great big sigh of relief, one giant breath, and hello to happier tomorrows. 

But can I ask you something? 

What honestly changes more with the calendar than has already changed in the manger? 

What does the simple date on the wall do for us that the Christ child does not? 

If you're looking for a new beginning, for a reason to sigh a great big sigh of relief, to take one giant breath, and to greet a happier tomorrow, what makes that more possible than the Son of God in the flesh, born to come into the world to walk with us and eventually, to cleanse us and take away our sins so that the life we live on Christmas morning, the breath of God piercing through the darkness, we get to live for the rest of eternity? 

Friends, linger at the manger. 

There's still a baby Jesus this morning. 

All that hope you had for a day like yesterday, it's still here today. It's fulfilled. All that promise you were hanging your hat on, it's right in front of you. The word of God wasn't just fulfilled yesterday; it is still fulfilled today. There is still a baby in a manger. 

In the Greek, the word for this is the "perfect tense" - an action that was performed and completed in the past but with an ongoing effect in the present (and possibly, future). It's done, but it's not over. It is finished, but still to come. 

It is now and not yet, and yet, for all the waiting that we still have to do, there's a real live baby boy we can experience with all of our senses. God is with us. Not just yesterday; He's still here today. He will be here tomorrow. And the day after that. And the one after that. And a thousand million trillion more after that one. As we used to say as kids, "times infinity." He's here. He's still here. 

And that changes everything. 

Friends, linger at the manger. You don't have to hurry up so you have time to get ready for the next thing; this is the best thing. Nothing is gonna top this. Especially not turning a silly ol' little page. 

The new life you're dreaming of is here. All you have to do is go down to the barn and hold it.