THE PRAYER THAT COULD CHANGE OUR CHRISTMAS

(Post by: Lilly Hobbs) Blogmas Day Nineteen 2024

I began this Christmas season by praying a very specific prayer, a prayer I knew would be dangerous because it would require something from me.

Maybe even me.

My prayer was simply this… “Jesus, help me unlearn all that I “know” about Christmas so that I can experience you, and Christmas, in their purest forms.”

As Chesterton once said, “Christmas is a time when things happen; things that do not always happen”, and this was my hope and desire for this season. My prayer was for Heaven to come through to my heart in a way it never had before.

Not for a second longer did I want my beliefs or experiences of Christmas to be marked by the kinds of lies secularism and modernism attempt to get me to latch on to and believe, just so they can fill their pockets full of temporary profit.

First, however, I knew I needed to unlearn a few things before that could happen. I think I can confidently say that clutter is one of the biggest obstacles to obedience.

I firmly believe that clutter does not merely refer to/include materialistic items, activities, and business. No, in fact, I would be bold enough to say that a majority of the time, clutter comes in the form of knowledge, the kind of knowledge that keeps us from seeking more of Jesus.

Preconceived ideas about what Christmas is, how it’s supposed to feel, and the things we need to participate in are what give way to the actions we ultimately end up taking.

What if I told you today that most of our preconceived ideas about Christmas are wrong, and not only are they wrong, but they have kept us from experiencing Jesus and Christmas in their purest forms?

After I prayed for the Lord to help me unlearn what I “know” about Christmas, and I began to read of the humble souls in generations past who experienced Christmas and Jesus, truly and completely, my imagination began to run wild.  

Perhaps this was the same kind of prayer the shepherds were praying out in the field as they watched the sheep, or maybe even the same one Simeon and Anna were praying in the temple night and day as they awaited their Messiah’s arrival. Maybe, as the wise men kept track of the wondering star and its movements, they possessed this deeper desire for something more, and this desire drove them each day.

Could this have been Joseph Mohr’s prayer, or G. K. Chesterton’s, or C. S. Lewis’?

What do we know to be true of these people who have been changed by Christmas and experienced Jesus afresh and anew in the past?

Each of them were actively anticipating, hoping in, and seeking the Kingdom.

Sure, for most of them the prayer wouldn’t have been so much about unlearning modernized ideas about Christmas, but they certainly could have been centered on the old traditions, rituals, and “religious” acts they had participated in and had done out of habit for years.

Their desire was for something new and something radical.

I’m trusting in the fact that, if the Lord answered their prayers and allowed Heaven to come through in their hearts, He will do the same in my heart this Christmas.

Perhaps this is the prayer that could change this Christmas and every Christmas after.

“Christmas is a contradiction of modern thought. Christmas is an obstacle to modern progress. Rooted in the past, and even the remote past, it cannot assist a world in which the ignorance of history is the only clear evidence of the knowledge of science. Born among miracles reported from two thousand years ago, it cannot expect to impress that sturdy common sense which can withstand the plainest and most palpable evidence for miracles happening at this moment.” (G. K. Chesterton)