"Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world."
- C.S. Lewis “The Last Battle” (1956)
I have loved Christmas; it's easily my favorite holiday of the year. I am one of those people that start listening to Christmas music as soon as the the turkey grease has coated the walls of my digestive system and the food coma has ensued. All through the month of December the familiar melodies of "White Christmas" or "Let it snow" from Michael Buble's Christmas album can be heard in my room. I look forward to the cheesy Christmas Hallmark movies or the old feel-good classics such as Home Alone or It's a Wonderful Life. While Christmas doesn't have the same ethereal magic,as it did in my childhood, the nostalgia and glow of hope that radiates in the Christmas season, is still potent indeed.
Christmas is a time when all of our families get together around a table. We eat, give and receive. We share a meal, and our life experiences over the last year. We reflect on the experiences we've encountered this last year as both individuals and as family. The holidays also tend to bring out the best and the worst in us. They bring to the forefront all of the issues and frustrations we have encountered this last year. They uncomfortably shine spotlights on the struggles,we've tried to ignore or repress. They display the highlights and the low lights of our present reality all as we sit around a table with friends and family who have either helped or hurt the situations.
For many of us as well, it can be a bitter sweet time as we continue to grieve for those who aren't present around the table. We mourn those we've lost,the mom we lost to brain cancer, the friend that died suddenly in a car crash or maybe our grief stems from the death of a relationship due to various reasons such as a bitter unresolved family feud or the lingering effects of the harsh words we spoke out of anger and bad judgement. We grieve for those by death or decision have left a hole in our lives and forced us to pick up the pieces.
And yet this brings great hope. Literally at the heart of the Christmas story is the promise of redemption and reconciliation. It promises redemption from the broken relationships, desperate cycles of self-destruction, and the ravages of sin and loss that so inundate our realities. It's a promise of a bridging of the gap between God and man, and then man and man. As we celebrate the birth of baby Jesus in the lowly stable, we are filled with great joy and expectation.
We are filled with hope that the world we witness shatter everyday will one day be restored, that the tears we cry will dry, and that the wounds we carry will be bound up and healed. We are filled with great expectation that the tender places in our hearts will be made new, and hope that the reality of incompleteness in our lives will be filled.
We see the promise of restoration and peace in the form of the little, fragile baby, our Savior, Emmanuel-- God with us. This God who entered our world, experienced our pain and broken reality to ultimately restore and reconcile. It's brings us a powerful hope of the restoration of not only the dark, broken places within us, and our fractured, damaged relationships, but also to the reconciliation of an uninhibited relationship with the King. As we eagerly anticipate the celebration of the birth of baby Jesus, we learn the glory of waiting as we long for Him to come again.
As it says in Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
So let us this Christmas hope, though bruised with pain and darkness. Let us eagerly expect the coming of the King and the renewing of the world. Let us grieve what we have lost, and endeavor to restore and reconcile our broken, burned bridges. Let us celebrate . Let us share hope and love with all who encounter us, especially with our family and friendships.
