Christmas: Better Than A Hallmark Christmas Movie

 

“I wanted to send you something AMAZING for Christmas, 

but the mailman told me to get out of the mailbox…”   Unknown

 
Doesn’t that sound like a line from some Hallmark Christmas movie? One of the most popular movie genres this time of year – one that you probably either love or hate – is Hallmark Christmas movies. Initially associated with the Hallmark Channel, the genre now spans multiple networks and streaming services. To say these movies are successful is an understatement, considering some 50 million people have watched at least one Christmas movie on the Hallmark network.
  It’s an all too familiar script: a reluctant young woman travels back to her hometown; sworn enemies fall in love; towns are named after favorite Christmas treats. There will be an initial conflict, but it will be overcome because Christmas is a time of love…even miracles. We see just enough of our own lives reflected in these conflicts—a sick parent, a heartbreak, a jealous ex—that we can see ourselves as the protagonist. But unlike real life, there’s always a happy ending.
  While I have some Christmas movies that I love to watch each year, the Hallmark ones are a bit too cheesy for me. Jane and I tried to watch one recently. At the halfway point I’d had enough. Everything was just a little too perfect. Maybe that’s my problem. I know that no matter what Hollywood or Hallmark churns out, Christmas is not about perfect.
  And even the Hallmark Christmas movies have a vital unanswered question: What happens after the perfect, cheery holidays? We want to believe that they’re fairy tale endings – “they lived happily ever after.” But most of these movies end at Christmas. What about after Christmas? What does life look like when the magic of Christmas is gone? Or what if the magic of Christmas was never there?
  For some this will be the first Christmas with an empty place at the table. Others have gone through a terrible divorce. It’s the first Christmas after the death of a marriage. Some serve our country in the far reaches of the world. Others must work on Christmas. Many go “home” but family relationships are like walking through a minefield. The atmosphere is fraught with tension and unresolved conflict. Hallmark Christmas movies give us a happy ending in a time for some that feels anything but “merry.”
  With the beauty of Christmas, the decorations, gifts, singing and parties and sanitized manger scenes, we easily forget that Christmas happened because this world was a disaster. Christmas happened, because we’re all a hot mess. God the Father in love sent His only Son into our trainwreck to clean it up, to give us hope.
  Jesus was the first Christmas gift, yet it doesn’t end with a smiling infant in a manger. It ends with a Savior on a cross. While you and I were born to live; Jesus was born to die.
  In his book, Every Good Endeavor, Tim Keller explains the three elements of a story. He points out that a story begins when something knocks life out of balance and things are obviously not as they should be. Then it progresses, or the plot “thickens,” as the protagonists in the story struggle to restore the balance of peace while antagonistic forces work to thwart their efforts. Finally, the story ends as the struggle results in either the restoration of balance or the failure to recover it.
  One of the reasons we love the stories that fill our Christmas traditions is that they inevitably end in the restoration of peace and the perpetuation of the Christmas Spirit. They’re so familiar that we don’t need a spoiler alert.
  Remember that when the Grinch stole Christmas, he gave it back. In Christmas Story Ralphie gets the Red Ryder BB Gun. In Christmas Carol that old curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge embraces generosity. Even in Home Alone, Kevin’s family makes it home for Christmas, the bandits are hauled off to jail, and a lonely old man reunites with his family.
  We cherish those Christmas stories because they reflect the hope that’s associated with Christmas. An association we make because of the real Christmas Story, when the protagonist, Jesus Christ, came to light the way to peace and reconciliation with God and us, and us with each other.
  Our story going back to the Garden begins when something knocks life with God out of sync. Sin entered the world and things were no longer as they were supposed to be. You and I, and the whole human race, were originally designed to walk in peace with God. Because of sin, we lost the connection. In biblical terms when sin entered the world, the lights went out and we couldn’t see His way. From that point forward, the world is filled with darkness, and everyone is on a hopeless quest for peace. We either sought to work our way to God through religion, or sought peace in other things—money, drugs, power, prestige, or people. None of it works. It’s why Jesus had to come!
  Christ-followers are reminded every Christmas that Christmas isn’t the ultimate end—it’s the beginning. At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the One sent to save us from our sins and the fulfillment of God’s promise. The first promise of a coming Savior is found in the first pages of Genesis in Genesis 3:15. That miracle—a baby born to save us all—is the promise that can get us through the worst days. God created a home for us in Heaven, a home where there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more death. It’s a home where we’ll be reunited forever with our brothers and sisters, all who have accepted the One who came to be our Savior.
  Christ-followers get to live this truth each year, celebrating the miracle of new beginnings. For us there really is a happy ending, one that’s out of this world forever! Because of God’s great love and great Christ’s sacrifice, we will live with Him in heaven forever.
  So, what’s home? It can be many things. It can be a mom or dad, or grandparents. Maybe it’s the aroma of Christmas dinner. Our one true Home is because of faith in a loving God and His promises. When we commit our lives to Him, when Christ lives within us, our hearts yearn for “peace on earth” that begins in our hearts. There really is no place like Home and the one our Heavenly Father is preparing for us. And Hallmark ain’t got nothing on that. It will be a happy ending that lasts forever!

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