Christmas on the Go

Jill Briscoe, founder of Just Between Us (JBU), Christmas motivations are simple: opportunity and service. Jill knows that people are more receptive to the gospel during the Christmas season. 

Leaving home at Christmas to minister was no new idea either. In the past, December travels have taken her to places like South Africa, Trinidad, and Australia. Jill explained. “Jesus didn’t stay home much. He was busy serving others. Besides, can you imagine a better present than knowing that somebody will be in heaven because you gave the gift of time?” 

Just Between Us had the opportunity to talk with Jill about how we can use the holidays as a way to share Christ with those around us and keep Christ the focus. 

JBU:

Have you always celebrated Christmas on the go?

Jill: We’ve never known a stereotypical family Christmas. With three kids in ministry, we’re never all in one place at one time. We settle for a bit of the family here and a bit more there…as many as can gather. It’s gotten wilder with the addition of each grandchild. (We have 13 now.)  We give each other time, not things, when we can.

JBU:

You’ve had a lot of practice celebrating Christmas far from home. What was your first holiday season like after leaving Britain in 1970?

Jill: Christmas was extremely difficult when Stuart and I first emigrated. We both left widowed mothers in England. I sorted it out theologically by reminding myself that this was the will of God, and I was here because I was supposed to be here. It also helped to know that we were serving others. 

JBU:

The holidays can be very stressful even without long-distance travel. How do you prepare yourself mentally and spiritually for your rigorous Christmas season? 

Jill: I’m grateful that I’m asked to speak at several Christmas meetings every year. These invitations nudge me to prepare my heart early as I think about my messages and look at the birth of Christ from different perspectives. 

Years ago, I wrote a Christmas message based on C.S. Lewis’ story of Narnia, the land of ice and snow governed by a wicked queen who took Christmas out of winter. Only when the lion, who represented God, roared, did the ice melt. My message was that too many people – even Christians – celebrate what I call “Winterfest,” but not Christmas. My parents, who were wonderful people, did this. Their Winterfest was beautiful – full of fun, Bing Crosby songs, chestnuts roasting on the open fire, and other traditional trappings of the season. I loved Christmas, and I loved what my mother did with it. But my parents worshiped the family. To them, family was God. That kind of attitude doesn’t bring the satisfaction that comes from having a home that lets the world in rather than closes it out. Invitations to speak give me the opportunity to focus people’s attention not on Winterfest but on Christ. 

JBU:

Christmas brings out the Martha and Mary in all of us. Like Martha, we worry about all the things we need to do – the Winterfest details. But we want, like Mary, to concentrate on the spiritual aspects – the Christmas side of the season. How can we balance all our obligations and still serve others?

Jill: By being very disciplined in our time with God, by volunteering for things that are spiritual, and by refusing to be pressured into trivialities. Let’s plan things that really matter and include our children. It’s good for kids to go with parents who serve meals at an inner-city mission or buy gifts for a prisoner’s family. Families can cook, shop, and wrap gifts for others. Individual families can host Christmas dinners and invite nonbelievers. Christmas is the perfect opportunity to use our home as a loving environment where evangelism is apt to happen. 

As a student in New York City, Fidel Castro longed to be invited into an American home. He never was. Think of the difference it might have made. So many students in the United States will sit in their dormitories over the Christmas holiday because they can’t afford to go home. Who knows? You might change a country by inviting a young person to share Christmas with you.

JBU:

How can we keep from letting the commercialism of the season steal away the true meaning for us and our families?

Jill: When I turned 50 I decided to simply Christmas and keep the real meaning by not buying any new gifts for people. Instead, I decided to give loved ones and friends what I call “heritage gifts.” I decided to start giving away things that were meaningful to me that I felt would be meaningful to others like jewelry, family keepsakes, etc. One year I gave my daughter my dining room set and it’s been so neat to go over to her house and sit at the table and see her family enjoying it. Other ideas could be Bibles that you’ve made personal notes in, journals, family recipes. We’ve even encouraged the children and grandchildren to start doing this. This type of giving helps us to take the focus off of purchasing a lot more stuff that we don’t need to passing on things with meaning.  

JBU:

For many, Christmas can be a very sad time of year. How do you deal with the pain that sometimes accompanies Christmas?      

Jill: I believe we should let pain accomplish what God has allowed it into our life to accomplish. We should accept it from the hands of a good God and know that He wants to work in it. If we do this, we’ll see God as we’ve never seen Him, see others as we’ve never seen them, and know ourselves as never before. During periods of pain, we should say, “Lord, I accept this situation, and I believe You are in control. I believe the pain will make me more effective, more sympathetic, and more like You.” Then we can ask ourselves, “What do I now have to give others that I didn’t have before the pain came?” God said He would comfort us so we could comfort others. He allows tough things to happen not just for our heart’s benefit, but so we can be better ministers.

JBU:

What is your Christmas wish for the JBU readers as they enter this holiday season? 

Jill: I hope that, for the month of December, they will covenant with God to spend at least 10 to 15 minutes a day focusing on Him. Out of that will come decisions and plans that will not be made if they give Him only a tip of the hat before bed each night. To go back to Martha and Mary …if we’re like Martha and are too busy to be blessed, we won’t be a blessing to the persons we love the most. If we don’t discipline ourselves in prayer and Bible study, the wicked queen will steal it all. We must not let that happen. We must make sure that our attention is not on Winterfest, but Christ!

~ By Holly G. Miller. Holly is the author or coauthor of 14 books and is contributing editor to The Saturday Evening Post, a consulting editor for In Trust Magazine, and frequent teacher at writing workshops. She lives in Anderson, Ind., with her husband Phil.