What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. John 1:5 (MSG)
Our Christmas – The Christmas Series – Part 1
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7
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It’s even days until the day of Days. We’ll wake early, after sleeping little, the night before lived well into the early hours wrapping gifts and preparing food, building toys and making “snow-covered footsteps” from the door to the tree and back again. And when we do get out of bed on Christmas morning, the children will declare “finally” even though it will not yet be 6 am. I swear Christmas is the only day my kids are willing to do anything before they eat.
It’s a particularly magical day.
I’ve spent many years gathering and cooking and preparing and shopping and getting things ready in the weeks leading up to the Big Day, almost frenzied like, in the hopes of creating the perfect Christmas, a beautiful memory-making-day for us to treasure. It’s like the crown of the year; a big exhale after months and months of working and living; the party after the wedding, an intimate wine on the back porch after a great day at work.
The last couple of years, however, have looked a little different. I’ve been tired. Weary. Heartbroken. Confused. I’ve experienced personal trauma, but I’ve noticed (opened myself up to) more of the world's trauma, too. So the last couple of Christmas’s, while my kids have chanted:
“All I want for Christmas is Lego and dolls and books and shoes and a Sylvanian Family Cruise ship (yep), and Star Wars themed Hot Wheels cars!”
I haven’t been able to ignore the cries for other wants…
Like clean water, equality, redemption, forgiveness, dignity, peace, healing, joy, food, a roof over my head, safety for my children…
Now, there’s a tender grief in my heart at this time of year. I’m incredibly thankful that I am able – for no other reason than the fact that I was born when and where I was – to buy gifts for those I love, create a beautiful space for our family to spend time, and invite people into my home. But alongside this thankfulness is the realization that most people around the world do not have access to these same simple pleasures I obsess and stress out over in preparation for Christmas. What do I with this kind of tension?
There’s a temptation, and a culture, to turn that tension off, and turn Christmas into a present-fest; make it all about what we get, from the presents to the parties to the drinks to the time off to the food. And if we don’t get what we want?
I’m tired of this kind of Christmas.
By the time the Angel appeared to Mary – as the story goes – the Jewish people had lived in Advent (the great waiting) for more years than not, perhaps even from the very beginning. Waiting for the coming of the Promise, the Saviour, the one who would restore Shalom – peace.
When we sing our Christmas carols, watch our Christmas movies, and write our Christmas cards, we don’t have in mind the turbulent and violent time the story of Christmas was birthed within. Political, economic and religious oppression and pressure ruled the day. The Israelites were (once more) prisoners in their own country, with a history steeped in violence and war and loss – the Israelites knew a thing or two about pain and wanting.
If we read the Nativity narrative a little more closely, a little more open-heartedly; if we shed our desires and preconceived ideas about red, green and gold Christmas’s, and prepared ourselves to listen with the intent to learn something new; we’d discover the story of Jesus birth is much more like the “wants” that go beyond new toys and new stuff. It reflects the deep ache in the brokenness of humanity that yearns for hope, peace, joy and love. The nativity isn’t just a picture of generosity or a gift given. It’s a subversive, rebellious account of hope rising in the midst of darkness, of pain becoming the birthplace of a new kind of justice, and God looking at our mess and falling (again) hopelessly in love with us.
It's a particularly magical story.
“What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.” John 1:5 MSG.
Go to Part 2 – When You Hope »
Written by Liz Milani
(Join us for our exclusive Advent Series – get a sample here »)
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