The Never-Ending Story

Guess what movie I saw yesterday?  The Hobbit!  Again!  “Isn’t once enough?” you ask, but for the girls who live at my house and love a good story, the answer is, “No!”  It takes a second time (and many times more when the DVD becomes available) to notice all the details, pay attention to the excellent soundtrack, and memorize the great lines.  Each time around, we pick up something new, but enjoying a plot we know and love, delighting in our favorite characters, and reliving exciting or poignant scenes are the main reasons multiple viewings are so enjoyable.  Great stories just don’t grow old.

Since it’s Christmas, you can understand.  That story has been around for a while—a couple of millennia, actually.  We know the characters and the plot.  The young, virgin mother.  The faithful and willing stepdad.  No vacancy in the inn. Labor and delivery in the barn. The sleepy shepherds.  The bright angels.  The rush to town.  And the baby “wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger”(Luke 2:12).  Every year, the same story is told over and over and over.  Pageants portray it.  Choirs sing it.  Artists paint it. Teachers tell it.  Pastors preach it.  And it never gets old.

I always knew the story—at least I don’t ever remember not knowing it.  I recall Christmas when I was three or four, standing on the fireplace hearth with my older brother and sister quoting the story for our grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Each family did something special at our Christmas celebration.  Some sang. Some shared.  Ours quoted.  Luke 2:1-20.  Still do—every year before we open presents, now with the kids being our own and us being those middle-aged parents!  It’s a special part of Christmas, but it’s more than tradition.  It’s truth.

Good stories don’t grow old, and God’s story never will.  For ages to come and into eternity, we’ll be telling the story over and over and over—noticing the details, singing along with the soundtrack, quoting our favorite lines, enjoying the plot, delighting in our favorite characters, and being utterly amazed that the Author of the story (who’s also its biggest star) wrote us into it.  “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior.”

The Christmas Story.  Learn it.  Love it.  Live it.  Again and again!