A friend from a support group sent this to me in 2006. I read it at least once a year. God Bless you Jeanne.
Christmas 2006 Reflection
I’ve had it all upside down. I always thought Christmas was about happy families gathered round a bountiful table, sharing faith at midnight mass, anticipating the perfect gift waiting under the most exquisite tree. No one was absent, everyone was healthy and happy, and all were surrounded by an aura of absolute contentment.
But I’ve been thinking lately about Incarnation, and about the Christmas story we repeat each December. It doesn’t fit the ideal of peace and joy I’ve come to expect and worked to achieve for years.
The story centers on a frightened, teenage, unwed mother, far from home, about to go into labor, without the support of her mother. No one planned ahead. There’s no decent place to stay, and she’s about to deliver. She’s scared. Her mother’s at home worried sick, wondering why this had to happen to her daughter. It wasn’t at all how she planned it.
Then there’s the confused “father”, wondering if it was such a good idea to take this young pregnant girl into his life, knowing how people talk. How difficult will it be to raise a child who is not really his? Maybe this was a mistake. His brothers and sisters can’t believe he’s done this. It’s brought such shame and heartache to the family. They’re done with him! After all, he brought it on himself.
And we have a bunch of dirty, cold shepherds dreaming only of a warm bed, and hot meal, who see something scary in the sky. Just what they needed to make an already precarious life even more challenging! And then there are the voices telling them to walk away from their job; leave the sheep and go see a baby? Listening to voices in the night will really make people uncomfortable!
And as always the story includes some very smart men. They are part of a foreign culture, but highly respected for their intellects. They’ve seen something in the night sky that just might be what they’ve been searching for. But then again, it could be a hoax. How stupid would it be to drop everything, put logic and reason aside, and go in search of something or someone that might be a fabrication; opium for a suffering people to make them feel better? It could be a wild goose chase, or at very least, a career ender.
I'm beginning to see that the Christmas story is not at all about having it together. It’s about people wondering how they got where they are, overwhelmed by the moment, and worried around what will happen next? It’s about needing to trust when it looks pretty hopeless and unlikely. It’s about being worried, and unsure.
I just hadn’t been paying attention! Probably too distracted by trying to create the ideal Christmas and being disappointed every time! Christmas is about God taking skin, and entering a world that is disordered and terrifying at times. It’s about a God dwelling among us and experiencing all the pain and heartache that we feel.
I’ve had it all upside down. Though the media would have us believe otherwise, Christmas isn’t a holiday for the happy, and healthy and wise! It’s for the anxious, and broken and confused.
“God with us” is grounds for celebration for the mother dying of cancer, the sister with bipolar disorder, the brother addicted to heroin, the alcoholic father, the grandfather with Alzheimer's, the frightened soldier, the lonely widow, the worried parent, the recovering friend, the divorcee, the mentally ill cousin, the eating disordered son, the otherwise sad. They are the people for whom Christmas happened. They are the people December found lost. Yet in the December darkness God broke through and joined them in the messiness and brokenness of life, and brought light. Halleluiah!
I’ve had it all wrong. The child we celebrate came into the midst of the troubled, the questioning, the disappointed…and He dwelt among us.
Glory to God in the highest, and lowest and even the upside down!
Christmas 2006 Reflection
I’ve had it all upside down. I always thought Christmas was about happy families gathered round a bountiful table, sharing faith at midnight mass, anticipating the perfect gift waiting under the most exquisite tree. No one was absent, everyone was healthy and happy, and all were surrounded by an aura of absolute contentment.
But I’ve been thinking lately about Incarnation, and about the Christmas story we repeat each December. It doesn’t fit the ideal of peace and joy I’ve come to expect and worked to achieve for years.
The story centers on a frightened, teenage, unwed mother, far from home, about to go into labor, without the support of her mother. No one planned ahead. There’s no decent place to stay, and she’s about to deliver. She’s scared. Her mother’s at home worried sick, wondering why this had to happen to her daughter. It wasn’t at all how she planned it.
Then there’s the confused “father”, wondering if it was such a good idea to take this young pregnant girl into his life, knowing how people talk. How difficult will it be to raise a child who is not really his? Maybe this was a mistake. His brothers and sisters can’t believe he’s done this. It’s brought such shame and heartache to the family. They’re done with him! After all, he brought it on himself.
And we have a bunch of dirty, cold shepherds dreaming only of a warm bed, and hot meal, who see something scary in the sky. Just what they needed to make an already precarious life even more challenging! And then there are the voices telling them to walk away from their job; leave the sheep and go see a baby? Listening to voices in the night will really make people uncomfortable!
And as always the story includes some very smart men. They are part of a foreign culture, but highly respected for their intellects. They’ve seen something in the night sky that just might be what they’ve been searching for. But then again, it could be a hoax. How stupid would it be to drop everything, put logic and reason aside, and go in search of something or someone that might be a fabrication; opium for a suffering people to make them feel better? It could be a wild goose chase, or at very least, a career ender.
I'm beginning to see that the Christmas story is not at all about having it together. It’s about people wondering how they got where they are, overwhelmed by the moment, and worried around what will happen next? It’s about needing to trust when it looks pretty hopeless and unlikely. It’s about being worried, and unsure.
I just hadn’t been paying attention! Probably too distracted by trying to create the ideal Christmas and being disappointed every time! Christmas is about God taking skin, and entering a world that is disordered and terrifying at times. It’s about a God dwelling among us and experiencing all the pain and heartache that we feel.
I’ve had it all upside down. Though the media would have us believe otherwise, Christmas isn’t a holiday for the happy, and healthy and wise! It’s for the anxious, and broken and confused.
“God with us” is grounds for celebration for the mother dying of cancer, the sister with bipolar disorder, the brother addicted to heroin, the alcoholic father, the grandfather with Alzheimer's, the frightened soldier, the lonely widow, the worried parent, the recovering friend, the divorcee, the mentally ill cousin, the eating disordered son, the otherwise sad. They are the people for whom Christmas happened. They are the people December found lost. Yet in the December darkness God broke through and joined them in the messiness and brokenness of life, and brought light. Halleluiah!
I’ve had it all wrong. The child we celebrate came into the midst of the troubled, the questioning, the disappointed…and He dwelt among us.
Glory to God in the highest, and lowest and even the upside down!
ristmas 2006 Reflection
I’ve had it all upside down. I always thought Christmas was about happy families gathered round a bountiful table, sharing faith at midnight mass, anticipating the perfect gift waiting under the most exquisite tree. No one was absent, everyone was healthy and happy, and all were surrounded by an aura of absolute contentment.
But I’ve been thinking lately about Incarnation, and about the Christmas story we repeat each December. It doesn’t fit the ideal of peace and joy I’ve come to expect and worked to achieve for years.
The story centers on a frightened, teenage, unwed mother, far from home, about to go into labor, without the support of her mother. No one planned ahead. There’s no decent place to stay, and she’s about to deliver. She’s scared. Her mother’s at home worried sick, wondering why this had to happen to her daughter. It wasn’t at all how she planned it.
Then there’s the confused “father”, wondering if it was such a good idea to take this young pregnant girl into his life, knowing how people talk. How difficult will it be to raise a child who is not really his? Maybe this was a mistake. His brothers and sisters can’t believe he’s done this. It’s brought such shame and heartache to the family. They’re done with him! After all, he brought it on himself.
And we have a bunch of dirty, cold shepherds dreaming only of a warm bed, and hot meal, who see something scary in the sky. Just what they needed to make an already precarious life even more challenging! And then there are the voices telling them to walk away from their job; leave the sheep and go see a baby? Listening to voices in the night will really make people uncomfortable!
And as always the story includes some very smart men. They are part of a foreign culture, but highly respected for their intellects. They’ve seen something in the night sky that just might be what they’ve been searching for. But then again, it could be a hoax. How stupid would it be to drop everything, put logic and reason aside, and go in search of something or someone that might be a fabrication; opium for a suffering people to make them feel better? It could be a wild goose chase, or at very least, a career ender.
I'm beginning to see that the Christmas story is not at all about having it together. It’s about people wondering how they got where they are, overwhelmed by the moment, and worried around what will happen next? It’s about needing to trust when it looks pretty hopeless and unlikely. It’s about being worried, and unsure.
I just hadn’t been paying attention! Probably too distracted by trying to create the ideal Christmas and being disappointed every time! Christmas is about God taking skin, and entering a world that is disordered and terrifying at times. It’s about a God dwelling among us and experiencing all the pain and heartache that we feel.
I’ve had it all upside down. Though the media would have us believe otherwise, Christmas isn’t a holiday for the happy, and healthy and wise! It’s for the anxious, and broken and confused.
“God with us” is grounds for celebration for the mother dying of cancer, the sister with bipolar disorder, the brother addicted to heroin, the alcoholic father, the grandfather with Alzheimer's, the frightened soldier, the lonely widow, the worried parent, the recovering friend, the divorcee, the mentally ill cousin, the eating disordered son, the otherwise sad. They are the people for whom Christmas happened. They are the people December found lost. Yet in the December darkness God broke through and joined them in the messiness and brokenness of life, and brought light. Halleluiah!
I’ve had it all wrong. The child we celebrate came into the midst of the troubled, the questioning, the disappointed…and He dwelt among us.
Glory to God in the highest, and lowest and even the upside down!
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