The Gift Given

You have heard them just as I have. Those complaints about Christmas not being the same. Even some who claim they do not care about the virus; they are going to travel and have Christmas just like they always have. I even have heard some claim that there will not be a Christmas, oftentimes blaming some politician. Yet here it is. Christmas has come. It has come because it does not rely on what we do, where we travel, what gifts are given and received, or if we are able to gather with families and friends. Christmas comes because God brings it and not by anything that we do. In fact, this Christmas may actually be more like the first Christmas. That first Christmas with Mary giving birth in an unfamiliar place with no amenities or family. Alone in a hostile and dark world that did not count their lives as important – just that they pay their taxes. Two people who walked in darkness saw God’s light and Mary pondered them in her heart.

Then there were the shepherds. Their task was necessary but lonely and dangerous. While the sheep were important – they gave clothing and food to others – the shepherds were disregarded and degraded – outcasts in society. It was to them that the first celebration of Christmas came. That celebration was not filled with gifts, friends, family, or feast. Instead it was darkness, fear, and curiosity, giving way to wonder. “Let us go and see this thing that has taken place.”

I could go on about the thousands of times Christmas has come to a people walking in deep darkness – persecution, slavery, war, plague, pandemic, hate, and death – but you already know. You  too are a people that have walked in deep darkness and even now may feel it swirling around you, grasping at you, stealing hope from you. 

It is to you that God sent his Son who himself walked in the darkness so that you can live in the light. Christmas is not what we do – the meals we share, the friends and families we gather with, the gifts given and received – it is what God does, sending his Son to a people who walk in darkness. In these dark times remember; pray for those who are struggling to see the light, and be thankful of God’s gift of hope.