The Christmas Chair

We have a chair in our living room.
It is just an ordinary chair in appearance.
It is an extraordinary chair in function.
It is the chair we each take turns to sit in on Christmas morning.

Our living room is the room where we have our Christmas tree.
It is the room with the baby grand piano.
It is the room that is painted a warm cranberry red.
It is the room that has bookcases filled with books.

This very ordinary chair is off in the corner.
It has become the place to sit after the presents from Mom and Dad have been opened.
It is the chair to sit in after our Christmas morning breakfast has been eaten.
It is the chair to sit in after passages about Jesus’ birth are read from God’s Word.

My husband usually sits in the chair first.
All of our children put their presents to us and to each other under the tree.
They each get up and find their present for the person sitting in the chair.
For that time all eyes are on the person in the chair that is in the corner of the room.

I usually sit close by the Christmas chair with a large trash bag.
I am the one who gathers the wrapping paper that has been torn off the boxes.
I have a front row seat until it is my turn to sit in the Christmas chair.
Then my husband gathers the wrapping paper for me.

I really don’t now how the tradition started.
It just seemed easier somehow to have the person sitting in a central location.
It just seemed fitting to have the gift givers approach the one to whom the gift was given.
It just became the way we did things on Christmas morning.

The chair has become known as the Christmas Chair.
My children pointed to the chair and gave it that name.
When I heard the name, I knew a tradition was started without even trying.
I probably could never replace the chair since it holds such sentimental value to each of us.

During the rest of the year, the chair has two old bears on it.
At Christmas time, the chair has a Christmas pillow and some whimsical snowmen.
The Christmas Chair is a special place.
Memories were made in that chair.

Did you ever notice how chairs have a certain significance for us?
You can look at a kitchen table and in your mind’s eye, you see everyone at their place.
You can look at a church pew and see the people who usually sit there even when it’s empty.
You can look at a desk chair when your child is at college and see them doing homework there.

It is never just a chair.
It has a story.
It seems to take on a life of its own.
It becomes part of the definition of the family.

No matter what the calendar says, it is Christmas morning whenever I look at that chair.
It can be a heat wave in July and I see a Christmas tree, presents, and candles in the window.
I have sat on that chair when I talked to someone on the phone.
I have sat on that chair when I need to find something in a book.

There are many reasons to sit on that chair.
However, that chair has an important job on December 25.
Oh, the stories the Christmas Chair could tell.
Oh, the memories that plaid fabric holds for us.

Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11)

There is another Christmas Chair.
This Christmas Chair is a Throne.
This Throne is in heaven.
This Throne belongs to the Highly Exalted One.

Jesus left His Throne, His Christmas Chair, and came to earth.
He did not occupy so grand a place when He was born of the Virgin Mary.
Here, the enthroned One was lying in a manger.
The One who is God became man and was placed on a bed of straw.

Jesus’ place, next to His Father, was temporarily empty.
Jesus died on the cross, rose again, and ascended into Heaven and occupied His place.
Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father.
Jesus is where He should be.

The Christmas Chair in heaven.
The Easter Chair in heaven.
What was once occupied, became empty, only to be occupied again in exaltation.
That is what we celebrate.

The Christmas Chair in heaven is filled.
The One with the nail-scarred hands sits in Glory.
What a Story that Christmas Chair can tell.
The story is told; it is forever enshrined in God’s Word.

The story of the Christmas Chair.
Once occupied, then empty for a time, and now occupied again in exaltation.
The Gospel as exemplified by a chair.
The Gift Giver approached the one to whom the gift was given and gave His one and only Son.

Imagine what the Father thought of when He looked at His Christmas Chair.
He thought of us.
He thought of us all along.
Oh, the love of the Father is so great that He gave.

Have you pondered the Christmas Chair?
Have you pondered the Christmas Chair anew?