The Time Is Here
This blog post is Part 1 of our Christmas series entitled "It's Christmas Y'all!" by Pastor Jeffrey Dean Smith of Donelson First in Nashville, TN.
Message Date: December 1, 2024
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I’d like you to complete the lyrics to these Christmas songs:
You will get a sentimental feeling when you hear... Voices singing, let's be jolly, deck the halls with boughs of holly!
Oh, bring us some figgy pudding Oh, bring us some figgy pudding Oh, bring us some figgy pudding... And bring it right here!
Then one foggy Christmas Eve Santa came to say... Rudolph with your nose so bright, Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?
Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh O'er the fields we go Laughing all the way... Bells on bob tail ring, making spirits bright. What fun it is to ride and sing, a sleighing song tonight!
There'll be much mistletoeing, and hearts will be glowing, when loved ones are near.... It's the most wonderful time of the year!
I love singing these songs, don’t you? This last song ended with these wonderful lyrics: It's the most wonderful time of the year! It too is now considered to be the #1 most stressful time of the year for Americans! How interesting that what should be the holiest time of the year for the Christian has too become one of the most chaotic; frenzied; and the most fast-paced season of our lives! Too... it has become the most expensive.
The average person will spend $998 buying gifts for loved ones this year. Last year, just in the United Sates, we spent $989 billion in the one month between this weekend and Christmas day. And all-together, Americans spent a heart-stopping amount, $1.5 trillion on Christmas gifts purchased in the year 2023. And here is an eye-opening reality: in 2023, 22% of our fellow Americans went into financial debt in order to pay for Christmas.
Yet, even amidst the stress and chaos and money and even more money... it is still the most wonderful time of the year!
This time of year, is truly unlike any other time. It is a time, though we should do at all times throughout the year, that we often pause a little more to think about family, caring for others, time together, loving on those less fortunate than ourselves, and considering, “How can I make someone’s life a little easier or more comfortable as this year comes to an end?” It is hard to believe that once again, here we are in December, and... “the time is here!” And... I presume there have been moments over the last few weeks where you have thought, “Oh no! ... the time is here!”
Well... one commonality I am confident we each possess as it relates to the most wonderful time of the year... family traditions! Am I right? For our family, there are so very many traditions we embrace this time of year.
- Walking in Franklin
- Hallmark Christmas movies... you know, because they are just so suspenseful!
- Amy’s 12 Days of Christmas
- A classic movie at the Lebanon Theatre
- And of course, our Christmas Eve worship service here @ DF!
Whether you are a traditionalist who purchases a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve and decorates the tree together as a family on this night, because this is what you have always done, or... Maybe you are the one in your neighborhood who slowly begins to get decorations out little by little from around July 1st forward... you know who you are... Whatever you think about Christmas; whatever traditions; whatever family memories you cherish and toil really hard to protect and preserve, I am confident you will agree: Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. But, we have to protect “the wonderful...” or it quickly will become the busiest; loudest; stressful; consuming; expensive; competitive; overwhelming; and incontrollable time of the year.
Just this week, I read this beautiful Psalm – Psalm 46. I found myself allowing these words to console me; comfort me; calm me.
Psalm 46:1-11
As I read, and re-read this song this week, I realized, in this Psalm is the perfect encouraging verse for us, and really for all of humanity to read and to know and to cherish as we begin this Christmas season. It is Psalm 46:10!
Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10
You know Church, there is a beautiful visual Christmas season tradition that is embraced throughout the month of December all around the world. Yet, since arriving as your Pastor, I have never offered to us the opportunity to celebrate this Christmas tradition. Any idea to which tradition I reference? Advent. We have never corporately celebrated the very unique and intimate reflection of Advent over the 5 Christmas seasons my family has enjoyed with you here at Donelson First. We are going to do so this year. And even though many churches and families and individuals do, and have done so for many years, recognized the holy expression of Advent, I presume there are many folks who not fully know the origin of the Advent celebration. First, do you know what Advent means?
Advent / Latin/ adventus/ verb = the coming
At its origin in the 4th and 5th centuries in Spain and Gaul, Advent was a season of preparation – yes, preparation. But not a preparation for which you most likely presume those in these earlier centuries were in preparation of. Such preparation... was not for Christmas, nor even the celebration of the coming of the Christ-child at His birth. No! Instead, such a reverent preparation, in the simplest of terms was for the celebration of the baptism of new Christians into the faith!
By the 6th century, however, Roman Christians did begin connecting the Advent to the coming of the Christ. But “the coming” they had in mind was not Christ’s first coming as a baby through a virgin birth to a young Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem. But instead, as His second coming when Jesus, as Scripture details, one day return to take home His Holy Church. It was not until the Middle Ages, around 1400AD, that the Advent season was explicitly linked to the Christ’s first coming at Christmas. Y’all... this means that Advent is uniquely special in two ways:
Advent is:
1. “The coming” celebration of the Christ at His birth.
2. “The coming” celebration of the Christ at His return.
As a part of the Advent season, and actually, in its original form, one very special and visual tradition that has become a Christmas staple for us all in our living rooms; adorning downtown city centers; and even appearing as lights on a skyscraper building each year right here in Music City... the... Evergreen.
If one is to properly revere the holy celebration of Advent, one cannot fully do so without the presence of the Evergreen. Have you ever wondered why, each year when the Christmas season begins, and usually long before this, even often before Halloween, in very large front-of-store sections in places we all frequent, such as Lowes and Home Depot and Hobby Lobby and Target, we begin seeing the Evergreen... or Christmas tree. We bring them into our homes and restaurants and malls and places of business. We decorate them, place lights on them, and proudly display them in our windows.
Interestingly, the display of the Evergreen Christmas tree has more spiritual significance than you might realize. And... it’s all connected to Advent! “How?” you may ask? Well, many historical references point to those darkest and coldest and longest days of winter in remote places on planet Earth from many, many years ago. These history books point to the very cold winters of places on earth that make our winters here in Nashville, Tennessee look like summer; places on our planet where the winter days are so long and so dark that, to locals, they become depressing. In some places in the world, winter months turn so cold and so dark and stay this way for so long, we know that it is in these months, on these longs nights, where the suicide rates skyrocket. In some of these places to which I refer, they don't see sunlight at all during the day. And once their leaves begin to fall from the trees, such trees often stay leafless for sometimes up to six months – for half the year! For example, in the Antarctic Plateau, their days of darkness begin in late December. They do not see the sun again until early March. The temperature in some of these places averages, averages, -139 Fahrenheit.
Well, many a year ago, one tree, the Evergreen tree, became a wonderful inspiration of hope to people living in such dark and cold places. Staying inside of their homes during the long harsh winters, suffering through extremely short and bitter cold days, and too long and black and even colder nights, these people found strength in looking at the tree whose leaf, or more appropriately, whose fur, never drops. At a time of year when almost everything else died, the Evergreen tree did not. And so as a symbol of faith, particularly during the Christmas season, these people took limbs from Evergreen trees, formed their shape into little mini circles and often decorated them. And in the middle of these Evergreen limbs, eventually would be placed... a candle; and Advent candle!
You see, you might not know this... Before the Advent candle became the tradition of light that it is today, there first was the... Advent Evergreen. Over time, the tradition of the display of the Advent Evergreen and candle spread across Europe, across the waters of our planet, and around the world, and eventually led to an even larger Evergreen... a Christmas tree standing in all of its “lit up glory” in homes around the world! Eventually, more candles were added to this Yuletide display, one for each week of the month-long celebration leading up to Christmas, and the Evergreen became an everlasting symbol, a representation of true hope in the Scriptural promise, celebrating “the coming” expectation of the Christ. And, this year at Donelson First, we are going to celebrate exactly this, the Advent, because... It’s Christmas, Y’all!
As we begin the season of celebration, here are three words from Psalm 46 to which I desire to draw your attention:
1. Still
Be still and know that I am God... Psalm 46:10a
Still your heart. Still your soul. Still your hurt. Still your celebrations. Still your everything!
Still / Hebrew / rapa / v. = to withdrawal; abandon
Now, this verse is not giving you the permission “to withdrawal and abandon” in the intellect that you check-out from life; that you give up. No! The Psalmist writes beseeching, intreating us that there is a reason for which we are to “withdrawal and abandon” – especially in light of my thoughts earlier as it relates to just how very chaotic this time of year has become for us all! In light of such... the Psalmist implores you to withdrawal from the distractingly “bustle” of the season; abandon the disturbingly “busy” that so quickly can consume this wonderful time of the year!
During the Christmas season, there is no time better than, with all the excitement of trimming a tree, and mistletoe, and watching 17 times “It’s A Wonderful Life,” and parties, and food, and family, and togetherness with friends, and on and on... “Why are we to ‘withdrawal and abandon’?” you ask? Well, the author reveals exactly this answer. The Lord appeals through these writings that you do not forget... above all the lights and gift-giving and gift-opening and parties and celebrations... that... look at what he writes... “I am God!”
He says, Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
Psalm 46:10
Do you see it? As you find yourself indulging in all of the traditions and ways of the Christmas season, I implore you not to forget... as Scripture reminds, withdrawal and abandon, to “be still,” so that you truly take the time to remember that: He - is - God!
2. Know
Look again at Psalm 46:10:
He says, Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
Psalm 46:10
The Psalmist implores you to “know” that He and only He, is God.
Isaiah 9:6-7
He desires that you know; that you truly know, He came this very special Christmas morning to make Himself known to you, so that you might know Him and know that He walks step in step with you through every season; to know that no matter how long, and how cold and how dark; to know that no matter how short; and how hot, and how devastating, He is and always will be a... Wonderful Counselor; Mighty God; an Everlasting Father; a Prince of Peace. He wants you to know of the greatness of His government and peace from which there will be no end. He wants you to know that He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom; He wants you to know that He will establish and uphold you, YES YOU, with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever more.
And in light of the fact that “It’s Christmas, Y’all!,” know that He is a God who loves you so very much, that He allowed His Son to come to this place all the while knowing that death awaited Him. Selfish though I know this sounds... y’all I could not, I could not, allow Bailey nor Brynnan to leave my house and go to any place if I possessed such knowledge that they, while in such a place would die... and would do so in the way in which the Christ was willing to do.
Yet, before Jesus ever came to earth on Christmas morning, the prophet Isaiah prophesied these very words:
Isaiah 53:5-8
What so deeply moves me about this passage is the reminder that it is because of my iniquities; my transgressions; my bad choices; my sin that God allowed His Son to come to Earth and to be born in that middle-eastern stable and laid in that lowly place so that I might choose... to know Him!
Y’all there is so very much knowledge represented here in this place today – knowledge over the body, the mind, the intricacies of the ways in which so very many things work; knowledge over financial strategies and how a car transmission functions; the knowledge over how to plant a dogwood tree that lives longer than two years. There is the knowledge necessary to practice good parenting, navigate a smart phone; and catch a neighborhood skunk that continually wreaks havoc on curious dogs who chase them! And... speaking of dogs, who knew there was quite a bit of knowledge necessary to take care of a dog who looks like a horse and eats like an elephant and chews everything in sight and has to sleep in your bed and weighs 154 pounds and thinks he is as small as a kitten!
Y’all... there are an innumerable and often fascinating and too, quite eccentric and oddly peculiar ways in which one can speak of the knowledge we each possess on a plethora of topics and situations and antidotes and answers, knowledge that intrigues; knowledge that amazes; knowledge that mesmerizes; knowledge that encourages; knowledge that comforts, and knowledge that cures.
And then, there is the... Knowledge that most simply... completes. Completes your questions. Completes your hurt. Completes your brokenness. Completes your unknown. Completes your loneliness. Completes your fear over the question of eternity. Completes your Christmas season. Completes you.
The Psalmist simply expresses in Psalm 46:10: ... Be still, and know that I am God...
And lastly, one final word... you are to be still... you are to know... you are to...
3. Exalt
He says, Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10
There are countless verses which speak to the ways in which God is to be exalted:
I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Psalm 145:1-2
In that day you will say: Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Isaiah 12:4
Twice in Psalm 46, we are reminded that our Lord is to be exalted – exalted among the nations; exalted in all of the earth. Do you know what it means to “exalt” the Lord?
Exalt / Hebrew / rum/ v. = to lift high; = to scream for acknowledgment
The Hebrew here is revealing that you are to exalt the Lord as you lift high your praise, humility, love; adulation; reverence. Too, to exalt the Lord means you are to lift high your hurts, sorrows, fears, anger, sadness, depression, and loneliness.
When you exalt the Lord, you are screaming... Lord I acknowledge that you are holy and the only One upon which I lift high my praise. Lord, I acknowledge that you are holy and the only One upon which I lift high my burden.
I presume, if you are as I, you are really good and acknowledging the Lord with praise. Yet, possibly, you are less good and acknowledging the Lord with your burden. Oh, Church, how I desire to get better and better at praying to the Lord... lifting high my screams for acknowledgment!
Lord, I exalt you with my acclaim and admiration. Lord, I exalt you with my discomfort and defeat. Lord, this time of year, the most wonderful time of year, I exalt you because I know the “wonderful” is all because of you. Lord, this time of year, the most wonderful time of year, I exalt you because I know even though I may not feel like life is “wonderful,” I know you are still deserving of such acclaim among the nations; such admiration in all the earth! Our God, Jehovah God, the Son of God, is the only one God who came to be with you and to give Himself for you. And for this, and at this moment, and in both pain and peace, during this most wonderful time of the year... The Lord is to be exalted.
As you gather this Christmas with family... The Lord is to be exalted. As you open gifts around the Christmas tree... The Lord is to be exalted. As you mourn and remember those no longer here this Christmas... The Lord is to be exalted. As you stand in long shopping lines, and traverse Nashville traffic, and eat the Fruit Cake from Aunt Helda that she brings every year that tastes like cardboard... The Lord is to be exalted. As you remember all that you have you would not have without the birth of the Christ... The Lord is to be exalted.
You see friend... when you choose to do so, you are choosing to lift high; to scream for acknowledgment... Lord, I can’t do this without you! Lord, I am thankful for you! Lord, I am in awe of you! And I lift high my sincerest heart accolades, actions, and assaults to you! So for this, and in this most wonderful time of the year, Church... choose to be still, to know that He is God; that He and only He is to be exalted among the nations... and choose to exalt Him in all the earth. For... “It’s Christmas, y’all!”
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Jeffrey Dean Smith is a husband, father to Bailey & Brynnan, author, and the Senior Pastor at Donelson First in Nashville, TN. If you are in Music City, meet Jeffrey and enjoy iced tea on the front lawn each Sunday at 10:30a.