I can count the number of horror films I have watched on one hand. I don’t like images of ghosts, ghouls, and monsters frightening me out of my wits. I like to have some fingernails left at the end of a movie.
With a horror movie we will often find the themes of death, judgement, and even religion. Good things will happen to some good people. Bad things will happen to many people.
Horror movies are one way that people explore the question: “is there life after death?” People of various religions and cultures seek an answer to that question. It is a fundamental question. Our answer can impact the way we live.
Christians believe there is life after death. It is a central feature of our faith found in our scriptures, our church services, and mindset.
A person who believes in life after death can still have many questions. We ask – “What happens to the people who do terrible things?” or “Does everyone go to heaven?”. Our questions include “Is there a hell?” or “Can I be confident of going to heaven?”
When people wrote the Bible, many people around them had similar questions. They believed that God was judging people and only a few might meet God’s exacting standards. Sin was the name for their wrongdoing. They feared God would punish them for their sins.
It is into that world and those ideas that the story of the first Christmas comes.
The Bible stories tell us that God loved the world so much that he chooses to become part of the world. God chooses to experience human life by being born and growing up. Jesus is born in Bethlehem and grows up in Nazareth. He goes to work, takes a role as a teacher, and becomes a protestor.
The authorities don’t like what he is saying and doing. They arrest and torture him. They sentence him to death and kill him.
The story of Jesus’ experiences is a horrible story. Christians believe that God changes the trajectory of punishment because he experienced this. God takes the worst of being human into his heart. God confronts it with love. Death and despair will not be the last word.
Christians believe God saves us from sin (wrongdoing). God invites us into eternal life (heaven). He does all this through Jesus. For this reason, we call Jesus “Saviour”. Jesus gives us hope and peace in our souls.
You will hear these themes in many Christmas carols.
In ‘Hark, the herald angels sing’, we sing: ‘mild he lays his glory by, born that we no more need die”. In ‘While shepherds watched their flocks’, we sing: ‘to you in David’s town this day is born … a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.’ The beautiful refrain at the end of Silent Night is ‘Christ our Saviour is born.’
I much prefer the beauty of the Christmas scene than the scenes of a horror movie.
I like the way the celebrations of Christmas show us two kind and caring parents with their child in Bethlehem.
The beauty of Christmas is captured by John in his Gospel. He writes about God’s action, saying:
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth … For from his fullness, we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1: 14 & 16)
“God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3: 16 & 17)
Christmas embraces the reality that heaven and hell exist. It understands that God is judging us on our attitudes and behaviours.
But, more importantly, God loves us so much that God is doing what he can so that we might be judged positively and have eternal life.
We receive an invitation from God not to find good and holy ways of living because we fear being punished by God. Rather, God wants to inspire us to adopt kind, generous and respectful ways of living which reflect his loving nature.
In the carol, ‘O little town of Bethlehem’ we sing: ‘O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray; cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.’
In its simplest form, it is a choice to embrace Jesus’ wisdom and character. When we do, we experience God giving us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5: 22 & 23).
My choice is for a world shaped by love, not horror stories. My desire is to copy Jesus and live a life of justice, mercy and peace so that I help make the world a better place.
May you have a blessed, holy and joy-filled Christmas.
+Peter
