Elisabeth Elliot: It shouldn't be the location, or the presence or absence of those we love, or the number of presents received that determine our heart's celebration of the tremendous mystery of the Incarnation.

Lisa Barry: I'm sure most of us make a yearly commitment not to get caught up in the commercialization of Christmas. And yet when we're bombarded on every side, it's admittedly a difficult thing to do. If you're longing for a simple traditional approach to Christmas this year, I hope you'll tune in all this week, because Elisabeth Elliot is offering some Christmas cheer that'll touch your heart. That's next on Gateway To Joy.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That's what the Bible says. "And underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot, talking with you today about Christmas. It's such a lovely time for families and such a lonely time for many others. Maybe some of you who are lonely will just enjoy hearing about the Christmases that I knew when I was just a child growing up.

I'm sure that most of you have some happy memories about Christmas. Often it's the happiest memories that make you the loneliest when those memories are gone, when those situations are gone--the families and the people that made them so happy. But let's remember that every stage of our lives is God-ordained, God-appointed, and it's God who can comfort you. It's Jesus Christ Himself, the One who came into this dark world of sin as a baby at Christmastime in order to save us from ourselves and from our loneliness.

When I was a child, the Christmases that I remember, I guess, were all in the Depression, the great Depression days in the early '30s. We lived in a relatively humble home in Philadelphia, and I don't remember that we had any Christmas decorations except a Christmas tree, and we didn't have electric lights on that tree. We thought people who had lights on their trees were very rich. We had one little candlestick that was sort of a green candlestick with holly berries on it, a ceramic candlestick. And we would put that in the front window, and felt that that was very festive. I really don't remember that there were any other Christmas decorations in our house back in those days.

But we were so excited. It was just thrilling to realize that presents were being bought and wrapped up and hidden. My mother didn't let us know where they were. And they were not put under the Christmas tree. As a matter of fact, we didn't have a fireplace, and my mother had always hung her stocking on the end of her bed when she was a little girl and so we were taught to hang our stockings on the end of our bed.

We were never taught about Santa Claus. My parents could not bring themselves to lie systematically to their children. And to teach children that it is really Santa Claus who fills their stockings, of course, does involve quite an elaborate fabric of lying that goes on over a period of years. So we knew that it must be our parents who sneaked into our bedroom after we'd gone to sleep and filled those stockings.

The first thing that would happen on Christmas morning would be that we were allowed to bring our stockings into our parents' bedroom. And all three of us--there were just three of us in those days; later there were six--we would go in and we would climb up on their bed with such excitement and pull out one by one the little tissue-wrapped gifts.

They were very simple things. Most of them cost a nickel or a dime. I remember getting toothpaste, chewing gum and Cashmere Bouquet talcum powder and pencils and paper and erasers and little things like that, and then always in the toe of the stocking would be one of those little gold mesh bags filled with chocolate candy coins wrapped in gold paper.

Then we had to go and get dressed and make our beds, and then we had breakfast. After breakfast we had to wash the dishes and have family prayers before we went in to the Christmas tree. I'm sure that we thought that was pretty hard to have to do all those things before we could go in to open what we called "the big presents" in the living room where the Christmas tree was. But my parents had good sense, and they taught us always to do the things that we wanted least to do first and then we could enjoy the things that we were looking forward to so much.

So after the beds were made, the breakfast was eaten, the dishes were washed and family prayers were over, we went into the living room. My mother had put our presents on individual chairs. I'm not recommending that idea. I departed from that when I had my own child, but I do think it's a nice idea to put all the presents under the trees. But I guess my mother, who always was looking for the simplest and least messy way of doing things, put each child's present on a separate chair.

So we just dived into that chair and started tearing off the paper and ribbon as fast as we could, and it was over in a very short time. Later on, when I had gone away to school, where there was a different method when we stayed there for Christmas, I persuaded my parents to pile the presents all under the tree and my father would give them out one by one. Each of us had to wait while the other child was opening his gift. We all watched and waited until that gift was opened before the next one was given out. That takes a long time. It took us most of the morning. Well, that was our family Christmas.

We always had several guests--usually Aunt Alice and Aunt Anne, sometimes other guests. There was always turkey, mashed potatoes, peas and pumpkin pie, minced pie. I don't think we ever had ice cream.

I remember some very unusual Christmases. One was at Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, Alberta. It was a bitter cold day. We did have a big dinner that day, but I can't remember anything else that would have celebrated Christmas other than perhaps a service in the Tabernacle. But I spent that Christmas morning in the laundry room.

I remember another Christmas when I was with the Auca Indians all by myself. My daughter, Valerie, had gone up to be with friends in Quito for Christmas, and I stayed there, and I don't think there was anybody at all in the clearing during the day. The Indians came back during the night. But I spent the day meditating on past Christmases and, of course, on the true meaning of Christmas, which we're going to get around to in some depth this week.

The Christmas of 1991 my husband and I were landing in Nairobi, Kenya, and we had Christmas dinner with some people we had never met before--missionaries named Chuck and Bobbie Kinzer.

It shouldn't be the location, or the presence or absence of those we love, or the number of presents received that determine our heart's celebration of the tremendous mystery of the Incarnation. For the Incarnation, remember, was the very revelation of God Himself, far more important than where we are or who is there with us, let alone than the number of presents that we receive.

I'd like to read to you one of my very favorite Christmas passages. You may not think of this as a Christmas passage, but I think you'll see why. It's from the first chapter of Hebrews: "God, who gave to our forefathers many different glimpses of the truth in the words of the prophets, has now at the end of the present age given us the truth in His Son. Through the Son, God made the whole universe, and to the Son, He has ordained that all creation shall ultimately belong."

And may I put in a parenthesis here? Remember, this Son--capital S-o-n--is that baby, that tiny, helpless baby that was born in a manger in Bethlehem. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say, "This Son, radiance of the glory of God, flawless expression of the nature of God, Himself the upholding principle of all that is, effected in person the reconciliation between God and man, and then took His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high, thus proving Himself by the more glorious name that He has won, far greater than all the angels of God.

For to which of the angels did God ever say such words as these: 'Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee,' or again, 'I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son.' Further, when He brings His firstborn into this world of men, He says, 'Let all the angels of God worship Him.' This is what He says of the angels: Who maketh His angels winds and His ministers a flame of fire.'

But when He speaks of the Son, He says, 'Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.' He also says, 'Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth."'

And again a parenthesis--I'm reminding you that it's God here speaking to His Son, Jesus Christ, and He calls Him Lord. He says, "'Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou continuest. And they all shall wax old as cloth a garment, and as a mantle shalt Thou roll them up as a garment, and they shall be changed. But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.'

But does He ever say this of any of the angels: 'Sit Thou on my right hand till I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy feet'? Surely the angels are no more than spirits in the service of God, commissioned to serve the heirs of God's salvation." A great distinction between the glorious, radiant Son of God and the angels.

Lisa Barry: What a terrific note to end on. I can remember as a little girl being so disappointed on December 26th because it was all over. A day I had been dreaming about for months had come and gone in the blink of an eye. Maybe if I had concentrated on the true meaning of Christmas and the glory and majesty of God, I would've felt quite differently. God doesn't retreat back into the box with the Christmas decorations. Quite the contrary, because Christmas signifies the beginning, not the end.

Well, if you're looking for a few Christmas gifts that will make a lasting impression on someone you love, then let me tell you about a few gift packages we have. One has been put together especially for women, another for men and another for graduates and young people. Each collection has resources in it that are specifically targeted for one of these three groups. Take some of the stress out of gift giving, because we've done the hard part for you.

For more information about the gift packages and the specific materials contained in each, you can give us a call at this toll-free number: 1-800-759-4JOY. That's 1-800-759-4569. Or you can write to us at Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501. Our Internet ministry address is gatewaytojoy.org. Gateway To Joy has been a production of Back to the Bible.

Well, tomorrow Elisabeth is going to shed some light on the realities of the Christmas story, so make it a point to be with us then for another Gateway To Joy.