In an attmept to save myself from the hustle and bustle of this season, I have committed myself to writing a reflection every day leading up to Christmas Day. I recognize the need to stop and see this season differently than ever before...to marvel, to wonder, to be reminded of why I believe.
It's hard to stop. It's hard to take a breath in between Christmas parties, shopping excursions (although if you know me, you know that doesn't happen often), cooking and baking treats, presenting Christmas programs, and rushing here and there. The harsh reality is that, as believers, something is missing. Our culture has sucked us into a virtual vacuum of candy canes, ribbons, bows, piped in Christmas carols, and twinkling lights. Instead of allowing those things to enhance our mysterious belief, I have let them take over my wonder and joy of the season.
This week, I was reading the lyrics to "Come Thou Fount"--"Tune my heart to sing thy praise." I started praying, Lord, tune my heart for this season. It starts there--in the place we once chose to allow God to dwell. And if God is dwelling there, it is full of goodness and light. Tuning requires work on the part of the one tuning. It also requires an instrument that is abandoned to the work of the one holding it. We must let go to allow God to make us better.
Last week, we sang the familiar carol, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." It's one of my favorite carols...not because of sentiment...it has become a favorite in the last few years as I have begun to recognize the messiness of this life. The carol has somewhat of a daunting, eerie sound to it, and then bursts forth with the proclamation "Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to us O Israel!"
Christmas time does not erase the mess of life--there are still hungry people, there are people who have plenty and yet are sad, people die, others mourn, babies are born,...life continues. And isn't that the point? Life didn't stop when Jesus was born so long ago. Most people didn't even know that he had come into the world. A few's hearts were tuned well enough that they heard his cries for creation and came to see this most peculiar King in the form of a baby cooing to the cows and donkeys. And what a surprise....a baby breathed his first breath in a dirty cave, among animals. Young, scared parents received him. God enters our lives and is WITH US in all things. Sometimes it's scary to let God in--into the mess, the questions, the uncertainty, the joy, all of it--but if we do, we will Rejoice! Rejoice! at how beautifully tuned our hearts are to God's purposes and workings in and through us.
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