“Do you get tired of Christmas?”my friend asked me. It was a fair question. When you work at a church, every day of December is focused on Christmas and the planning begins many months prior to December. Over the years I’ve reduced the personal traditions – baking, gift giving, decorating, and musical events – in order to focus on the church traditions. And I think lots of folks experience a moment in the season when we are just ready to skip over to January and stop all the fuss. But my first reaction to my friend’s question was “No, I don’t get tired of Christmas. In fact, I don’t know how I would face the bleak midwinter without all the Christmas traditions. I love the smell of fresh greenery in the house, the lights outlining the roof lines on our block, the extra social gatherings with friends, and the smell of yeast and cloves wafting out of the kitchen.”
But a sense of weariness is understandable during the holidays. It began with worry and wondering, with pondering and questions. When Mary was expecting she visited Elizabeth who was also expecting. Mary was too young and unprepared. Elizabeth was too old and shocked that life could still come from her. Both families wondered “how could this be?” The scripture says that when Elizabeth saw Mary, the child inside of her leaped for joy. A quickening. A flutter of hope. I love this about Christmas. Regardless of the burdens, we each carry, Christmas brings a flutter of hope. Here is how Brennan Manning describes it in his book “Reflections for Ragamuffins”.
“The Christmas contemplative knows that hope is a gift, an undeserved gift of peace, but that it is also a call to decision — the decision to trust . . . . Hope thrives on the difficult and challenges the conclusion that our only contribution to the world will be, in the words of T. S Eliot, “an asphalt driveway in front of our home and a thousand lost golf balls.” Hope convinces us that in clinging to a miserable sense of security and status quo the possibility of growth and greatness is utterly defeated. . . . . Because the question no longer is: Can I do it? Am I able? Can I overcome my moodiness, my laziness, my sensuality, my grudges and resentments? The only question is: Is Jesus Christ able? Can my Savior, the Lord of my life, revive my drooping spirit and transform me at Christmas as he transformed the world through his birth in Bethlehem?”
What about you? Do you get tired of Christmas? Or is something quickening in you?
Grace and Peace,
Carla
