This Christmas, Take the Gospel Opportunity of Zwischen Den Jahren

Imagine you got fired.

It would hurt, right?

Imagine you got fired on your birthday.

That would hurt more, right?

Or imagine someone breaking up with you… and it’s Valentine’s Day?

The significance of the date can make bad news harder to swallow. The catastrophe of 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami somehow seemed worse because it happened on Boxing Day.

But what if you had the opportunity to tell someone good news, something that would make them want to celebrate? How would the significance of the date have an impact on that?

Imagine announcing your pregnancy at your parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. What would it be like to announce the all-clear from the oncologist on your spouse’s birthday? (Obviously, you’ve got to be careful about Thunderstealing, but go with me here!)

Not every day of the calendar year carries equal weight. Some days make bad news worse, other days make good news seem even better.

Christmas News at Christmas Time

What if you could share with someone the best news they’ll ever hear on Christmas Day?

How about telling them about the God who created them in his image? The God who saw their rejection of him but provided everything they need to return to him? The God who came to rescue them from themselves? The God who gives them the best gift—himself?

For some, this Christmas will be the most wonderful time of their year; for others, it’s going to be a struggle. But whether people find Christmas easy or difficult, as Christians we have news that can magnify the celebration or banish the misery.

Whether people find Christmas easy or difficult, as Christians we have news that can magnify the celebration or banish the misery.

Paul told the Colossian church: “be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity” (Colossians 4:5). And in a culture that is increasingly post-Christian, Christmas is going to be more and more of a precious opportunity to connect the baby in the manger, and the man he grew up to be, with the lives of those around us.

Making the most of every opportunity means many things, and different things according to your setting. But it will always mean thinking intentionally and carefully each year not only about how we as believers can marvel once more at the incarnation; but how we can help those around us to see beyond the tinsel, turkey and tree.

The Problem at Christmas is Christmas

But so often the problem is that “Christmas”—family, presents, travel, food, films and so on—makes too much noise, and the Christmas gospel gets drowned out. It’s as though all the stuff of Christmas dazes people and the incredible message of the Word of God in flesh is lost in the fog.

So there is an argument to say that, because Christmas is so “noisy”, we should save our energy to proclaim Christ when things have quietened down. Charles Spurgeon spoke of wise gardeners watering their plants once the sun had gone down, to save the moisture from being burned off in the midday heat. I know many pastors who themselves feel burned out by the stress of Christmas, and demoralized each January when those who came in December, and seemed so interested by the message, don’t return.

Zwischen Den Jahren

So let me suggest that the real opportunity this Christmas doesn’t come before, so much as afterwards. There’s a great opportunity between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day—what the Germans call “Zwischen den Jahren”, between the years. That’s a calmer time, a more reflective time. I always find it a peculiarly quiet time—it always makes me think of the Wood between the Worlds from CS Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew.

So the best way to make the most of the noisy, pre-Christmas opportunity is to link it to the quieter, post-Christmas one. Be imaginative and innovative in how to draw in, or go to, those who don’t know Christ this Christmas. And then think through how you can get them to keep considering Christ after Christmas. Aim to share the good news of Jesus during the shrill build-up to Christmas and also to provide a way for them to think about his incarnation when they stop to breathe.

Working for a church, I’ve sought different ways to make that bridge from before Christmas to after. And I’ve come to think that a very short book—themed around Christmas, presenting the gospel, and brief enough to read in few spare moments Zwischen den Jahren—is one way to create that bridge. Maybe it is for you, too—or maybe it’s something else. But aim to work out how you will give a present to those who come to your events or those who you’re able to visit. Aim to put something in their hands that enable them to keep considering Christ once the noise has calmed down.

Christmas is not a season for us to survive. It is a season for us to worship. And worshiping well means witnessing well. Imagine people you know, people all around your community, coming to faith in Christ during the season we celebrate Christ’s birthday. That would be special, right?

Christmas is not a season for us to survive. It is a season for us to worship.

How will you make the most of every opportunity?

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