Silent Night

M E R R Y  C H R I S T M A S

It's an odd feeling being away from GCC during the Christmas season. No service on Christmas Eve and no GCC family to spend time with on Christmas day. 

Christmas is not a National Holiday in Vietnam, nor is it a day to be remembered as Christ's coming. Everywhere you go you see beautiful Christmas decorations and hear Christmas songs playing, but nobody seems to really know what Christmas is. So many people celebrate Christmas and say the very words, "Merry Christmas," not realizing what this day truly means. 

It's quite a different Christmas experience; one that I've never experienced before. I'm not busy. The holiday season is usually a time of busyness - writing cards, buying gifts, preparing performances, going to retreats, etc. However, this Christmas is seriously a "Silent Night". No running around, no packing bags, no staying up all night writing cards, no eating out late...

Growing up in America, I think I've fallen into the trap of a "worldly" Christmas. Although I attended Christmas service, I can't remember a time when I really spent Christmas thinking about Jesus' birth. "Merry Christmas." Yes, it's a merry Christmas for us, but what about for God? I'm sure He was delightful at the fact that through Jesus He would save the world and be able to restore the relationship He had with mankind, but on the other hand, I think that God may have been very heart-broken. Jesus' death was already set as He was sent to earth. God gave life to Jesus so that He may die. God gave up His perfect Son in order to give us the perfect gift. 

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"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." - John 3:16-17