As I begin to write this, its been really chilly outside, feeling like Christmas should. I have looked ahead at the weather report, it looks like we will be in the 70’s on Christmas Day. Growing up in San Antonio, Christmas was often warm. I’m just going to say this, Christmas should have cold weather! One time when I was pastoring a church in McKinney, Texas, we had a white Christmas. Christmas Eve was quite the snow storm, and it looked like all the pictures I remembered growing up and envying those who experienced such. It was glorious.
How we experience Christmas is probably an individual thing, everyone has their own idea of the picture perfect Christmas. I’m not sure if its nostalgia, or just trying to mimic what we’ve seen over the years.
This coming Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Advent whose theme is love. I wonder how different each of our ideas of love at Christmas time are? What does love mean to us? Is it gifts under a tree? Is it family dinners around a big dining table loaded with all our favorite dishes? Is it having all those we hold dear close to us?
So much work and preparation goes into celebrating this time of year. Lots of decorations that would look ridiculous any other time. Many people are in the mood to party and enjoy gatherings. There are lots of ways each of us choose to celebrate the season. Maybe its traveling to be with our loved ones. Maybe we are the host for everyone else to come to. There are also those who have lost loved ones who view the season differently than before their loss. There are those who experience loneliness in the midst of all the groups they see gathering. There are even those who choose to experience Christmas in a solitary way, quietly reflecting on the deeper meaning found in the season and day.
When I think of the theme of love there are lots of images and ideas that come to mind. Of course one of those is the image of two people in love, looking at each other with eyes filled with stars. The image of a parent with a child, one where you can almost feel the familial emotion. The image of elderly persons being tended to by the younger generation. These images are poignant and moving.
There are other images of love that come to my mind as well. Some are a little starker and maybe a little jarring. The image of a homeless person in a slapped together kind of shelter under a bridge. The image of those looking for a better life, trying desperately to cross into a place that is less than hospitable. The image of a prisoner who has been run over by the system. The image of a family mired in poverty stricken circumstances. The image of a person alone in a hospital bed.
The images I have just alluded to are not those we are quick to put in our memory banks as to what a picture perfect Christmas should look like. I would challenge us though, to think about the first Christmas and what it was like. An unwed mother, a father struggling to understand how this happened. An inconvenient trip forced upon a pregnant couple. No real support system at their destination. Even a hastily pulled together trip across a border looking for safety.
I still want the picture perfect Christmas with snow on the ground. I still want the picture perfect Christmas celebrating with those I’m closest too. But I don’t want to celebrate without being reminded of the other images as well. Those images ground me more than I can even communicate. Those images humble me and strike me at a deeper and more profound level. When I celebrate, ALL those images are part of what I’m truly celebrating. God sent Jesus into a world that is occupied by all the images I’ve spoken of and many, many more. That’s what real love looks like. Its a love that comes for all people, no matter their circumstance. And its a love that addresses what each of us need in our moment.
This is the last Wednesday Word for this year. I hope and pray each of you have a very Merry Christmas. Love others with everything you have inside of you. Love with the imagination of a picture perfect Christmas being one where God is being born in us. We have a chance to make a picture perfect Christmas so that all God’s love is shared and lavished on all.
Your companion on the Way,
Pastor Tom