Christmas time is here… and I love it.  This is by far my favorite time of year.  It is a unique time where both my heart and mind become far more aware of sights and smells, emotions and relationships, humanity and divinity.

This year I am attempting to achieve something I have often talked about but never done.  I am going to use Christmas movies as a medium for stirring the heart and mind towards a Christmas Spirit. To this end I am intentionally watching 20 Christmas movies in 30 days.  Does this make me spiritually naïve?  Maybe.  Ambitious?  Probably.  Ultra-cool?  Absolutely!  I have already started with Home Alone, and The Holiday (some might argue the Christmas-worthiness of The Holiday but it uses Christmas as it’s setting, and is a movie that inspires a smile from my wife, therefore it definitely counts!).  What I love about this movie-watching concept is that each of these movies has different themes and when I am willing to chew on them, they help me take a look at myself, my society, and ultimately God.  I am not intending to over spiritualize here, simply saying that God, who is Truth and Love, is a part of each of the moments that engage any form of truth and love, and conversely is also seen in the moments that take away from love and truth.  My point is simply this:  God is continuously speaking, revealing himself to us through a myriad of ways, even movies, if we are willing to look and listen for Him.

The biblical account of the Christmas Story is itself an example of how God is continuously speaking, miraculously through angels, through others, and quietly inside the heart.  Let’s do a quick summary:  Mary, an uneducated, young (probably 13ish) female in a male centric society is first to hear God speak and her response is belief and obedience.  Then there is Joseph, a carpenter and Mary’s fiancé, who when approached – even though it jeopardizes his position in society and in the temple – responds in belief and obedience by standing by his pregnant fiancé.  Then there is Elizabeth, who, when Mary visits her, responds in belief of this holy conception and is obedient to God’s call to care for Mary.  Next are the Shepherds, lowly in society, often untrained and uneducated, who with the Angels’ proclamation leave their sheep, risking their employment and thus the ability to sustain their families, to go and see the work God was doing.  After Jesus’ birth, as he is being presented at the temple, both Simeon and Anna respond to this baby in faith, that He is indeed the Messiah, that God has provided that which He has promised.  The wise men, who read the skies and see a heavenly unveiling of the story of The Kings’ birth, leave their land and take with them costly gifts to go and kneel before this king.  When they arrive in Jerusalem they come to King Herod who is not a religious believer or Jewish follower, who believes enough to call the Jewish Scribes and Priests together, and ultimately to have every male boy 2 years and younger killed to protect his claim on the throne.  This story is full of people who hear and see God at work and respond.  These responses are a bit surprising; there is beauty in the simple belief and willingness to act in obedience of many.  There is pain and darkness in Herod’s belief and willingness to act against God.  Yet there is one response that is perplexing at best and insidious at worst.

In Matthew 2:3-6 Herod called the Scribes and Chief Priests together to ask where the King would be born.  They answer honestly with the scripture they had memorized from early childhood, the scripture that had been passed generation to generation in hope of Messiah, freedom from outside rule, freedom to worship as they choose, freedom to work for their own gain, free again.  “And you O Bethlehem…from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”  After giving Herod a historically, grammatically, contextually accurate answer, they apparently went … home.  Not to Bethlehem.  Home.

As the religious leaders of the Jewish people, their JOB was to instill hope and guide the people towards the day that their Messiah would come.  At this moment, presented with possible proof of the Messiah’s birth, it is the professionals, those in the spiritual trenches, those with the best knowledge of the scriptures and by assumption then God himself, who seem to simply go home and do nothing to follow up on this strange and awe-inspiring report.  They are the Watchmen for Israel, given the task to shepherd God’s people until God himself provides the next King, and when asked about the scriptural prediction are able to give it perfectly and distinctly, yet somehow they either completely miss His voice and His work, or maybe worse, they choose to ignore and put it off.

This Christmas, as you sit in Circles, in services, watching movies (ahem, at my house!), buying things for family, friends, the underprivileged; while you decorate and sing songs filled with Godly truth, as you read and pray through the Gospel story:  Please be mindful how easy it is for each of us to hear and know God’s truth, without actually hearing and knowing God.  Please, go to Bethlehem.

-Jason Miller