Blue Christmas

The Christmas season is upon us – do you feel like celebrating? Be honest. Are you ready to embrace the Christmas cheer, and laugh and sing with the world? Or, do you feel like you have to fake it, put on a mask, and pretend to be happy? Among Christians and non-Christians alike, this is the time of year when everyone has an expectation of joy and laughter.

But this is also a season when we can feel our losses the sharpest. Friends, family, and loved ones have passed on. Relationships have ended. Those who were close to us may have moved away or are on deployment in lands distant and foreign. Or, just as bad, are only right down the street, but are unreachable because of social distancing. Because, let’s be honest – sometimes we just need a hug.

Add to that the people that have lost jobs or had their businesses devastated by lockdowns and restrictions. Now, mix in isolation and pandemic fears and it is certainly not a recipe for celebration.

In this COVID world, it can sometimes be hard to find a reason to be joyful. So we convince ourselves that we have to endure.  Christmas becomes something that we ‘get through’ instead of something we experience and embrace and dare I say: enjoy…

Luke 2:1-19 (HSCB) 1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered. 2 This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.

4 And Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, 5 to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 Then she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped Him snugly in cloth and laid Him in a feeding trough—because there was no room for them at the lodging place.

8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.”

13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

14 Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and peace on earth to people He favors!

15 When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

16 They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the feeding trough. 17 After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.

2,000 years ago a young girl, heavy with child (yes, that girl and yes, that Child), found herself separated from the life she knew only a scant few months before. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, everything changed. She traveled with her husband and his family. He was a good man, a carpenter by trade, with strong hands and a big heart. His love for her had already been tested and proved when he chose to stand beside her and marry her knowing that she was pregnant with a child that wasn’t his. He had faith in her and in words brought to him by an angel (Matthew 1:19-20). The looks she must have received from some of the others, the whispers that were carried to her on the wind, probably told a different tale. They would keep her at a distance. Life would never be the same.

When it came time for her to deliver, they couldn’t even find a room. It was probably for the best anyway, Joseph would do anything for her but they were traveling. That also meant that he wasn’t working; which, in turn, meant that money would be tight. She delivered her child in a filthy manager. Undoubtedly Joseph did what he could to make the space as clean and as comfortable as he could, but a barn is still a barn.

This could not have been what Mary envisioned when the angel approached her only nine short months ago. After all she was to give birth to the Promised One, the Messiah and future King (Luke 1:31-32). Surely it wasn’t God’s will that the child of prophecy be born in poverty and filth, to a woman whose reputation had been called into question? Now she was virtually alone, separated from family and friends, with an uncertain future. Yet, for what would forever be known as the first Christmas, that is exactly where she found herself. She too probably found it hard to celebrate the birth of this child.

But then something happened, something remarkable, something miraculous – she gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Her joy had to be tempered in part by the fact that she had so few people to share it with. So God sent her shepherds, men who would not be put off by the sights and smells of a manger. Men who came for no other reason than to share in her joy.

See, we don’t always see our circumstances the way God does. Make no mistake about it, He weeps with us (John 11:33-35). When we hurt, He hurts. He wants to be with us in our moments of doubt, loss, pain, and suffering. But He also wants to offer us hope. Hope is what was born in that manger on that first Christmas.

Shepherds came to bear witness to the Savior and Messiah (Luke 2:11), Wise men traveled from afar to see the “King of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2), King Herod lashed out in fear at one who threatened his rule (Matthew 2:16). In truth He was none of those things, he was just a baby. Those were the things that He would one day become. What the shepherds came to see was the hope of tomorrow’s salvation. The wise men came to pay honor at the feet of the hope of tomorrow’s king.

Mary held in her arms, close to her heart, the first Christmas gift, wrapped in rags: The Hope of all mankind.

In the middle of the mess that was her life, when nothing seemed to be going right, Mary held hope, and in it, found her joy: “But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.” (Luke 2:19). This year has brought with it a double portion of pain, loss, and despair and we are left with the uncertainty of what next year will bring. Many of you, as you read this, are faced with empty chairs around the table this Christmas. Empty cupboards. Empty wallets. That emptiness echoes and reverberates in our hearts. Know that, while it may not feel like it in the moment, you are not alone. God hears your cries and stands with you.

Every Christmas we should embrace the gift of hope, but this year it seems even more important. Faith is defined by scripture as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1). Hope is our faith in action; to boldly stand, in faith, on the promises of tomorrow even when we can’t see that far today.

Pray with me: 

Heavenly Father,

I thank you for the first Christmas Gift. Given from the abundance of Your endless love and mercy.

The gift of your Precious Son, given selflessly and without reservation. Lord help us to accept this gift of hope, to hold it near to our hearts, to nurture it, to treasure it, and to share it with the world.

Father, Abba, when we feel lost, alone, and afraid, help us to feel Your presence to know that You are near to bask in the warmth of Your love and compassion.

Great and Gracious Creator, I speak HOPE into the lives and souls of everyone who bears witness to these words. Let the hope and promise of salvation offered through Your Son bring joy into the hearts of your children in this season and all the year.

It is in His precious, perfect, and holy name that we pray. Amen.

Wherever you are, I pray that you find your hope and it brings you joy. I pray that this joy overflows your heart so that you may share it with others.  God bless, and Merry Christmas.