I have a confession to make. I have not nary a smidgen of Christmas decoration yet, in my house. Last year as I recall, my decorative outdoor wreathe went up on the evening of Advent Four and that was just to prove to my neighbors that I wasn’t a total hypocrite (since they all knew I was a priest in the Christian Church). While their homes and yards were showered in colored and white lights, mine was the dark hole in the middle of all of that brightness.
The funny thing is, I know I’m not alone. There are many of us who continue to transition into new lives and new ways of being as we leave behind what was for what is to become. Some of us can’t even begin to think about the holiday and really just want to get through it all still standing. But the beauty of the Christmas story is that there is a truer and better way.
The story says that what was— darkness, despair, fear, and a hiding from the face of God (the good) in the midst of Paradise changed when the good God chose to become embodied and “move into our neighborhood.” The good became one of us and THAT changed everything! Now, what is TO BECOME has been coming ever since. Indeed all of creation, including us, is evolving.
Our Christian faith is a CHRISTMAS FAITH after all! It is a strong knowing that GOD-is-with-us. It is this faith that calls us out of wherever we are in this phase of transition of our lives to anticipate, expect, and wait on seeing the activity of God’s Presence anew.
I am so glad to have heard this year’s call, this year’s invitation in the Lessons & Carols event last Sunday. Bert and our marvelous choirs and musicians outdid themselves in allowing the Spirit of Christ to use them for the good of all of us who were there, and I am ever so grateful. I left for home full of joy and thinking “GOD, you ARE with us…thank you!”
I will be changing my own living space into a more festive setting on my Sabbath this week. I don’t have to fear what is becoming. Life is change, transition, and ultimately transformation. I am glad to BE ALIVE! I pray Christmas blessings upon us all; I pray that we can see GOD (the good) in unexpected places and remember that GOD-IS-WITH-US. I hope we can perceive and say, “thank you, GOD!”
With Christmas Love,