This morning I connected with a friend I hadn’t connected with for some time. I found out that he and his dear wife had lost two parents this year and one more is critically ill. I can’t even begin to imagine what their year has been like. Their news came in a year when I too have lost some friends, while some others are currently fighting serious illnesses. It’s not that big a jump from our own experiences of grief to a world marked by suffering and death for so many.
I have railed and ranted for years that I don’t want Christmas celebrations to be an escape from life with all its pain. I want so much not to be distracted from the fact that God saw the world in our sorrow and pain and made an appearance in history to initiate a rescue mission, a mission that would lead from the manger to the Cross. And to the resurrection.
John tells us:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1–5 NIV)
So, if anything, the lights of Christmas are pale shadows of the blazing light of the resurrection, and the reminder that light and life will have the last word.
Therefore, this Christmas and year end, bring your tears to the light. I suspect you need some quiet to do this. This Christmas, make the main thing the main thing. Let God’s light warm your bones and, with a slight smile, stand up and enter the new year. So much pain and sorrow. But it will not always be so. Take courage my friends. And remember to share that light with others.