How to Share Your Faith Using This Christmas
Meet the Whitfields. Dysfunctional is an understatement for this crazy family as they gather for a long-overdue family reunion in the comedy movie This Christmas. Family relationships have been so strained, that the Whitfields haven't been together for four years - giving each of them lots of time to stew over all the family issues that sent them running off in different directions in the first place and to create major messes in their own individual lives as well!
One brother is running from bookies trying to collect on his debts, while another brother is AWOL from the Marines. The sister has serious marriage troubles, and the mom is still working through her husband walking out on her 20 years ago. Sounds like a fun Christmas get-together, huh?
While this list of family woes may sound extreme, you may find yourself identifying with the general atmosphere of holiday-induced tensions and sibling rivalry. Maybe you (or your friends) have family issues that make the Christmas Season challenging... extended family tensions that ignite into open warfare this time of year or divorced parents with holiday schedule hostilities, to name a few. It's not unusual for the stress of the holidays to send family member over the edge, resulting in fireworks that put 4th of July celebrations to shame. Or maybe you just have a history of being disappointed when all the buildup and excitement of Christmas is over and you glance across the room at the Christmas presents your sib got.
In movieland the Whitfields battle through the relational conflicts and arrive at the other side, with relationships reconciled and restored. And the good news is that you can experience that reconciliation too. Not that it's easy when tensions build, but renewing your focus on Jesus as the center of Christmas and as the source of your strength in the midst of relational challenges will empower you to be a force for reconciliation rather than for conflict. The Apostle Paul describes our role as reconcilers this way in 2 Corinthians 5:17-19:
...anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you. (The Message)
How amazing is that? Through the forgiveness of our sins, Jesus calls us to be reconciled with him and with others. He calls us his friend and challenges us to tell others that through faith by grace they can restore their relationship with him and be his friend too! What a present to give someone this Christmas!
So during the coming weeks, try using This Christmas and family relationships as a springboard for God-talk. Here are some ideas to help get your conversation started:
- Do you have any family Christmas traditions that you really enjoy? Any that you wish were history?
- Do any of your family traditions focus on Jesus' birth? Is that aspect of Christmas important to you or not? Why or why not? Share from your own experience.
- Do family tensions sometimes build up in your family at Christmas time? If so, what do you think are some of the factors that contribute? Extended family dynamics? Money pressures? Sib rivalry? Too many people in too small a space? Cabin fever?
- The character Quentin in This Christmas is somewhat of a 'prodigal son' (a wayward son who wandered off and then came back to his family as trouble mounted). Ask your friends if they are familiar with the Biblical story of the prodigal son. If not, tell them the story! (Luke 15:11-32)
- Ask your friends if they realize that Jesus came to earth to make a way for humans to be reconciled with a holy God through a restored relationship with him. Share the GOSPEL message. For help with this, check out the GOSPEL Journey.
Sharing your faith in Jesus is a no brainer at Christmastime. The prompts for natural conversation starters about God are around us everywhere, in the decorations, in the gift-giving, in very words 'Merry Christmas'. Make sure you make the most of the opportunities This Christmas!
