What a shame that the...
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What a shame that the holidays had to be marred by the war we are fighting in Iraq. What a shame that young soldiers are dying on foreign soil when they ought to be wrapping presents for their friends and families. What a tragedy that during Christmas week parents must be told that their son or daughter has died. Perhaps many of you have had the same sentiments. In this season of light, it is a shame that we have so much darkness. Perhaps that is the point of it all. It is because of our season of darkness that Christmas comes to bring light!
When would it be a good time to tell someone that a child had died? When is a good time to fight a war? There is no good time. It is a part of the evil of this world and this life that we share. And there is never a good time for evil. There is never a good time for the bad news, never a good time for the hard decisions, never a good time for confronting our sin. There's never a good time, but perhaps Christmas is the least bad time. Perhaps it is fitting that wars don't stop because of Christmas. Maybe the conflicts all around us will help us to see Christmas as something more than the sanitized, romanticized, and idealized holiday we try to force it to be. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas if not for the darkness! Why were Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem? Because a tyrannical mad man ran the empire that oppressed the Jews, that's why. Why was Jesus born in a barn? It was because there was no room in the inn for poor people like Mary and Joseph. Why did the holy family flee to Egypt? It was because another mad man was worried that a baby would replace him as king of the Jews. The real Christmas was nothing like the adorable little plays enacted in all of our churches by our beloved children. The real Christmas was messy and scary. Mary and Joseph were far from home; they were helpless and worried. Their lives were hard lives. Their future was a most uncertain future.
Christmas isn't about the warm feelings we normally associate with it. Rather, Christmas is about God coming into the world, into the midst of messiness and scariness, helplessness and worry. It is about God coming into the midst of our jealousies and selfishness. It is about God coming into the midst of oppression and injustice, into the midst of murder and mistrust, hatred and hunger. Christ was born into the real world as a proclamation that God's light comes into the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it! This baby will grow up to confront hypocrisy, to heal the sick, to challenge the status quo, to love the unloved, to bring peace into places of conflict, and plant hope in despairing hearts. Our faith must grow with this baby; we can't keep Jesus in the cradle forever. We must open wide the doors to the stable of Bethlehem and let the light shine into the darkness.
When would it be a good time to tell someone that a child had died? When is a good time to fight a war? There is no good time. It is a part of the evil of this world and this life that we share. And there is never a good time for evil. There is never a good time for the bad news, never a good time for the hard decisions, never a good time for confronting our sin. There's never a good time, but perhaps Christmas is the least bad time. Perhaps it is fitting that wars don't stop because of Christmas. Maybe the conflicts all around us will help us to see Christmas as something more than the sanitized, romanticized, and idealized holiday we try to force it to be. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas if not for the darkness! Why were Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem? Because a tyrannical mad man ran the empire that oppressed the Jews, that's why. Why was Jesus born in a barn? It was because there was no room in the inn for poor people like Mary and Joseph. Why did the holy family flee to Egypt? It was because another mad man was worried that a baby would replace him as king of the Jews. The real Christmas was nothing like the adorable little plays enacted in all of our churches by our beloved children. The real Christmas was messy and scary. Mary and Joseph were far from home; they were helpless and worried. Their lives were hard lives. Their future was a most uncertain future.
Christmas isn't about the warm feelings we normally associate with it. Rather, Christmas is about God coming into the world, into the midst of messiness and scariness, helplessness and worry. It is about God coming into the midst of our jealousies and selfishness. It is about God coming into the midst of oppression and injustice, into the midst of murder and mistrust, hatred and hunger. Christ was born into the real world as a proclamation that God's light comes into the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it! This baby will grow up to confront hypocrisy, to heal the sick, to challenge the status quo, to love the unloved, to bring peace into places of conflict, and plant hope in despairing hearts. Our faith must grow with this baby; we can't keep Jesus in the cradle forever. We must open wide the doors to the stable of Bethlehem and let the light shine into the darkness.
