The Christmas season for us in previous years has often been very busy, and if I’m honest the changes imposed on our celebrating this year is actually offering some silence that I don’t often find this time of year. I have spent a lot of time reflecting on this. As I do every year, I take some time to think back on that first Christmas: what it might have been like, who the “players” were, and how their lives were impacted by all that took place. This Christmas is going to be so different for many of us, the world over. The fallout of this pandemic, lockdown, regulations, and precautions means that many families will likely be apart, unable to celebrate the way they normally would. But, as I reflected on this, I realized reason that we celebrate – the birth of our King – has not changed. Perhaps, there in something to be embraced in this disruption, a buried treasure to be unearthed, something to be gleaned here. Maybe the making of space in our hectic, festive agendas makes space in our hearts to truly listen to the Story this year. Maybe this year in some ways takes us back to the beginning.
The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Advent. The season of waiting. Of anticipation. Of hopeful expectation of something coming. This has been a hard year and I dare say that one of the only things that has kept us going some days has been the hope that things will get better. And this Christmas, like no other, we are perfectly poised, expectantly waiting, on the edge of our seats, hoping for good news. But isn’t that what Christmas is all about? While our Christmas celebrations and traditions might look different, simpler, smaller, and we acknowledge that there may be a sense of loss and grief that co-mingles with the joy, there is still Good News. Jesus Christ, the God Who is with us, the Light of World has come! Come to shine into the black fog that has shrouded our world. Could there be a better way to end the year 2020 than remembering this Truth?
That very first Christmas began in the town of Nazareth, where we find families who were in a situation with some similarities to our own. There may not have been a pandemic causing fear and chaos, but the rapid expansion and dominion of Rome was seen by many as a scourge, driving the nations they conquered to their knees in terror, grief, and simmering resentment. There may have been no state of emergency or issued health orders that kept families apart, but there was a census decree that would see friends and family members separated as they returned to their various ancestral towns to be registered.
Do you ever wonder what that was like? Saying goodbye for an unknown length of time? A time without phones or email or social media? Where messages were carried by hand or by mouth from traveler to traveler? Can you imagine what it was like for Mary and Joseph? Knowing that Mary was close to delivery and having to set out alone and far removed from everything they knew as “normal” life? To think that Mary had to leave her parents behind, in who knows what kind of health, and travel far away, knowing that she would likely have to bring her very first child into the world without her mother or the women of her village to turn to for support and guidance. Once arriving in Bethlehem, their “accommodations” left them isolated, separated from the companionship of others in similar situations. Joseph, we know from Scripture was a carpenter by trade – not exactly an “on the road” type of business. He had to close up and leave his business in order to fulfill the requirements of the census for an indeterminate length of time. What thoughts must have been swirling in his head, as new husband and soon to be new father trying to find a way to provide for his family?
And yet, amidst all the chaos and separation and loneliness, they experienced the greatest miracle all! It was that very separation that brought the Light of world to be born in a stable, to be proclaimed to a group of lowly shepherds on the hills of Bethlehem – a sign to all that this Light, this King, was for all. Willing to come into the mess and bleakness of our world, to meet us right where we are. In the midst of the darkest night, there shone a great Light!
This year, for the first time in 800 years, starting on the 21st and during the week of Christmas, the planets of Jupiter and Saturn will align in the night sky to produce a “Christmas star”. Could it have been a similar “star” that the magi from the east followed? The magi – who left their homes and families to journey to an unknown location – to see…what? They left with uncertainty looming ahead of them, but hearts full of conviction and hope kept them following the light.
2020 that has been filled with dark and shadow. With fear, division, and uncertainty. With hopelessness, grief, loss, and pain. Did we ever need a reminder of God’s greatest Gift more? When I heard about the Christmas star, I became overwhelmed with emotion. It is a sign. A sign and a reminder that regardless of circumstances, God is still present and He is at work showing us how much He loves us in little ways all around us. A reminder to turn our eyes once again to the heavens as the magi did. A reminder that no matter how deep the dark, the Light will always overpower it, drive it back, conquer it. Light wins. Every time.
Jesus came. As a baby. Innocent. Fragile. Helpless. In the dark of a cold night. But He changed the course of history and defeated the dark. That Light, born so long ago in a Bethlehem stable, grew up and walked among us, shining everywhere He went. Bringing hope and life and joy. And he called others to follow Him. He called us to follow Him. To walk in his footsteps, to love with his love, and to live lives that reflect His Light through us, much the same way that a lantern allows the light within to shine out. Like candles in the window. Beaconing warmth and welcome to those passing by. Pushing back the dark.
This year, more than any other, we have learned that we need each other. But even more than that, we need Jesus! Because without Him, what Hope do we have to cling to? Where can we draw our strength from? Jesus said He came to give us Life (John 10:10) and not just a drudging, menial existence, but abundant life – filled to the brim and overflowing. How can we keep Good News like that to ourselves? All too easily. Because as lanterns do, the glass becomes clouded over time and the light reflected grows dim. We become burdened. Distracted from our purpose. Discouraged. Exhausted. Afraid. Sometimes, even embarrassed to shine, because it makes us stand out and be different when we would rather hide. We let fear take the lead. And we allow another layer of grime to cover our glass. It’s time for those of us who proclaim to be followers of Christ to “clean our glass”. To step into the night and raise our lanterns high to give light to all.
Love God, love people. That’s what Jesus asks of us. Seek the Light. Reflect the Light.
This year that might look like connecting – really connecting – with the members of our own household. Or making a donation to the local homeless shelter or another charity, dropping a gift card in your neighbors mailbox, or sending cards to a care home. It might be checking in regularly with a call or text with someone who lives alone or a frontline worker, having “dinner” together over a video chat with friends or family, or dropping off groceries for a family that you know is struggling. It might be extending extra grace to the person in your life who is always negative or can be difficult to get along with. Or being courteous to the harried cashier at the till of the grocery store or patient to the drive-thru attendant that got your order wrong. Whatever it looks like, we can find ways to shine Christ’s Light into the dark places and reclaim the night. Even if we have to get a little creative.
So, what if this Christmas we became the living lanterns He called us to be, shining the Light of Christ from within our hearts with our words and our actions? Reaching out to those who have been mired in the dark and finding creative ways to connect with those around us. And may the world see that there is something to hope for. Something to look forward to. Something to live for in the new year.
Merry Christmas, dear friends! May the Light of the world shine in your dark and may you be a Living Lantern to others around you. See you in 2021!
“There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle.”
Robert Alden
Of Shattered Things 