But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. — Hebrews 11:16

When I was younger, I romanticized the idea of celebrating Christmas in a big city. I can’t put my finger on exactly what about it I found appealing, but I strongly suspect it had something to do with my love for the greatest Christmas movie of all time: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Watching Kevin McCallister roam around New York City, eat loads of junk food, and take out idiot bad guys was more formative than I’d care to admit.

Sadly, not only did I never get to booby trap an old brownstone apartment, but Christmas in the city has completely lost its allure for me. Seattle, specifically, has become a bit of a dumpster fire, and spending time there is now something I try to avoid.

As Christians, the unraveling of our society ought to concern us, but not in a way that leads to our cultural disengagement. Rather, Christmas ought to spur us on to see the disintegration of our cities as both a call toward Christian culture building and a reminder that a better city is coming.

When God created the world, he gave Adam a job. Adam’s job was to fill the earth and subdue it, cultivating and taking dominion over God’s creation for the sake of human flourishing.

This is still the task given to us, and Christmastime affords us a unique opportunity. You see, the more defiantly depraved our culture becomes, the more of a dissident you will be simply by continuing to celebrate Christmas in the ways you always have.

Dads, when you lead your families in worship, singing Christmas carols joyfully with cups of hot cocoa in hand, you are confessing that Christ is Lord over all creation as far as the curse is found.

When you put up your tree, you are building a little Christian city, planting a flag for Christ’s reign here on earth. Dads, when you lead your families in worship, singing Christmas carols joyfully with cups of hot cocoa in hand, you are confessing that Christ is Lord over all creation as far as the curse is found. Moms, when you bake your special Christmas cookies, you are filling your home with joy and the sweet aroma of the Gospel. As we disciple our children into the family of faith through our cherished traditions, we teach them what it means to be a people set apart from the world for God’s pleasure and glory.

And the reason that these small celebrations of Christmas joy are powerful is because God himself works in exactly the same way.

Christ’s humble incarnation was the exact means that God had planned to reclaim his covenant people and bring glory to his name.

God promised to send a King who would establish a better city. However, instead of showing up with full pomp and regalia to take command over Jerusalem, Jesus arrived quietly in the backwoods town of Bethlehem. While he was to usher in God’s kingdom on earth, the city of his birth couldn’t even be bothered to notice his arrival, let alone fall down before him in worship. And yet, Christ’s humble incarnation was the exact means that God had planned to reclaim his covenant people and bring glory to his name.

This Christmas season, we look forward in hope to the promised city of God, New Jerusalem, where Christ will reign in glory over the whole earth. As we anticipate the celebration of his birth through our humble traditions and gatherings, may the light of Christ shine out brightly from our homes as beacons of hope, advance outposts of God’s better city yet to come.

Liturgy

Christ, in your birth, life, death, resurrection, and reign, we find hope.
You entered our world in the humility of the manger.
Your first cries were heard by the lowly barn animals present for your birth.
King of the Universe, you put on flesh and came to dwell among us.

And in this world, you have given us a home.
You have called us to care for it, to cultivate it,
and to fill it with life.

Yet, like our father, Adam, we have failed.
Instead of setting our hands to the plow,
we have given them to idleness, wicked deeds, and deceit.
But God, though we have been content to sit lazily in the
wreckage of our sin, you are in the business of making
all things new.

Forgive us.

You saw our desolation, and you called us out of it.
Your wounds for our balm.
Your death for our life.
Your resurrection for ours.

And now you are preparing a new city for us,

where all will be well and every wrong made right.
Help us to live even now as citizens of your kingdom,
New Jerusalem, where your glory will shine,
and kings will bring the glory of their nations
in submission to yours.
May we celebrate this Christmas in our homes
and families as little cities,
Outposts of Gospel peace, shining brightly
into the darkness around us.
That all might hear and believe that Christ is Lord.

Amen.