How do you care for people at Christmas? The holidays can be a challenging time. Human interaction is intense with parties and social engagements that intersect with work, family, friends, and church. Over four weeks we will explore how to be “Caring During Christmas.” In this Advent sermon series you will learn four practical things based on Biblical wisdom that you can do be caring. These four weeks in December, called “Advent,” are a traditional time to prepare for Christmas spiritually. So dive in with us and prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ!

Constant Distractions

Constant distraction keeps us from caring. We occupy ourselves with things that prevent us from having to deal with people. We take things that aren’t necessarily bad and use them to distract ourselves from people. There are tons of examples. If you think about it you can identify what you use to distract yourself. It could be a dependence on work, social media, or substances like drugs and alcohol. These distractions can keep us from caring for others. They can keep us from having to feel emotions that come along with interacting with people.

Think about the story of Noah. In those days people were terrible toward one another. They robbed and cheated one another, and were incredibly violent. God was angry and decided to flood the entire world. God spoke to Noah and instructed him to build an ark in order to preserve life. Noah didn’t keep this information a secret! Others heard the warning of a flood. But they continued to distract themselves. Jesus said, 

“For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:37-39

The people in Noah’s time were so distracted that they were oblivious to a massive flood that would destroy everything around them. Maybe they distracted themselves from a painful and uncomfortable truth.

We Distract Ourselves Because We Don’t Feel Good

Noah and his family survived the flood. When the water subsided they returned to the Earth to create a new civilization. Noah was probably traumatized by all that he had seen. It wasn’t all unicorns and rainbows! According to the book of Genesis, Noah promptly got drunk after leaving the ark. He was trying to distract himself from his feelings. Imagine what he must have felt after seeing such things! He must have felt: sad, happy, angry, peaceful, confused, hopeful, and more. 

Have you ever felt intense and mixed emotions? It isn’t easy. It makes sense why distractions can be such a big part of our life. We have complicated feelings to deal with. But distractions don’t help us deal with difficult feelings. They are only a temporary fix. 

God Knows How We Feel

We might be able to distract ourselves from how we feel for a long time. We cannot, however, prevent God from knowing ho