Memories
These past few weeks I have been thinking about memories. I suppose that is not uncommon. Of all the times of celebration, Christmas is the one that is filled with memories. How can it be otherwise? It is filled with all the elements needed for memories: Food, family gifts, and celebration. All that can lead to joy which certainly will make memories. But those same memories can get in the way of truly celebrating the season. How many times are we caught in the attempt to recreate what we remember from a past Christmas? We also know that not all memories of Christmas are joyful. I have been struck this past month with several conversations I had with others who talked about how Christmas-time funerals had shaped their view of the season. Some of those conversations were positive, two were negative.
Like all memories, those of Christmas are a mix of joy and sadness. They are not always an accurate account of what really happened. Nor are they complete. That is true of the first Christmas – Mary had memories of that first Christmas. Luke tells us she “treasured these words and pondered them in her heart.” Yet, it was not always an easy memory to have. She still had to raise Jesus and his siblings. There was also a time when she went to bring him home after hearing from others that he was acting crazy. Then there is the time she stood at the base of his cross.
Mary’s memories of that glorious day were crowded with the cares and concerns of raising a family. That was not unique to Mary. It happens to us all. Our memories of Christmas past can shade our joy today. Just as our attempts to make it a wonderful event can do the same. A closer look at that first Christmas will remind us that how we have wrapped up Christmas is a false memory. In fact we only find an account of Jesus’ birth in Matthew and Luke. Mark makes no mention of it. Did he have no knowledge of it? Paul, whose letters are the earliest account of Jesus’ life, does not mention Jesus' birth either. While we pack so many memories into Christmas it seems that the memory of the first Christmas was simple. Whether you read Luke or Matthew you find that there was a great deal of worry and stress involved: A question of divorce; traveling while pregnant; full inns; the need for a bit of privacy in a busy city; a hurry to leave. Although our accounts do not agree, I would guess that Mary was glad it was all over and she could settle into a less stressful routine in Nazareth.
Come to think about it, that story of hurrying and stress is often our story. We, in an attempt to recreate a memory, fill our lives with the same things – stress and worry. Instead of over complicating this time of year, we should take a lesson from the shepherds: “Let us go …and see this thing that has taken place.” After they had seen they returned to their lives, “Glorifying God for all they had heard and seen.” Let us go from this day forward glorifying God for Jesus, who came to us as an infant born of Mary in Bethlehem, knowing full well that because of him, we are guaranteed life eternal in his presence. Until that day, rejoice and share the good news of Jesus by sharing God’s love with all.