A Christmas Eve Reflection (2021)
If there were ever a time we required the Christmas story, it would be now. Not the romanticized version of Mary giving birth to Jesus in a quiet manger scene, but the real, the raw, the chaotic, smelly, and noisy telling that we too often forget. The story of a mother and father on the run from a bloodthirsty and vengeful king, the story of new parents greeted by foreigners from far away lands, and the story of a lower-class family visited by kindred spirits who lived on the outskirts of the city, that is the story we need to hear this Christmas season.
Why is this the narrative we need to hear this Christmas Eve? Why can't it be the serene depiction we've come to hold in our hearts and minds? Because in many ways, we've forgotten the reason Christ came into the world as God incarnate. Into this messy and chaotic world, Christ entered, not to prop up any false understandings of our autonomy or personal freedoms, or our tendency to judge one another, or our ability to hoard the good news of Jesus' message to ourselves; but to instead show us the way to live anew, filled with the sustaining hope and love that we are so free to borrow when our hearts need hope, and love when our hearts require love.
It is this message that most of us hoped we would learn last year as limited outings and social gatherings. Yet, it is clear that even a year later, our hearts are still anxious, we are tired, we are weary, and in some instances, we've forgotten how to act with basic human decency, treating one another in a way that would be considered abhorrent by an outside observer. For this reason, now more than ever, we need to truly hear the story of an infant who came into the world out of selfless love for creation, for us, and for future generations to come.
This Christmas season, we heard the story of all the women and men who God had called before the birth of Christ. And God continues to call women and men to be bearers of the life and love the Christ child embodies for all people. I think that this Christmas season, we should focus on what we can do to make what we cherish this Christmas a reality. Because love incarnate has arrived! Hope incarnate has arrived and is surrounding us right now! May our hearts take the lessons these past couple of years have taught us and allow them to grow in the Christmas hope, peace, love, and joy that the Christ Child brought as a gift for the entire world, not just for the rich or powerful or those who belonged to a particular group of people, but truly for all.
May our weary hearts borrow the hope and love of the Christ Child so that our lives might be living reflections of our God who cares for all creation.