It’s the most ______________ time of the year.
What did you say there? Wonderful? Stressful?
At our house the day after Thanksgiving we begin the Christmas tree decorating and the Christmas cards. Soon snippiness, frustration, and marital discord erupts and bah humbug moves into our house. You would think after 31 years together we would have developed a foolproof plan. But it isn’t actually the tree or the cards that are stressful. It’s the time of year when families feel the pressure of an extra layer of to-do’s: parties, shopping, wrapping, baking, concerts, lights, travel, and family events. And maybe the expectation for the family to have all of it feel just right.
The story of Christmas is a family story. A messy family story. Mary expecting but having no husband. Joseph resolving to end that courtship which had become a disgrace. Mary’s older cousin, Elizabeth, pregnant years after giving up on being a Mom because of infertility and advanced age. A planned trip that ended up with no reservations in the inn. And in the background, a king plotting the violent death of all the innocent baby boys so that he will never experience competition from a newborn king. The first Christmas was definitely messy. Much of the story would not look good on a Hallmark Card or make for a Netflix feel-good movie.
The poet/author Madeleine L’Engle wrote:
God did not wait til the world was ready,
til . . . nations were at peace.
God came when the Heavens were unsteady,
And prisoners cried out for release.
God did not wait for the perfect time,
God came when the need was deep and great.
I love that God arrived into the messiness of human life. One of my most vivid childhood memories of Christmas was the December after Uncle Ray dropped dead of a heart attack while mowing the lawn in the summer. That Christmas my Aunt Millie and teenage cousin Pam came to our house on Christmas eve and went to the 11 am church service with us. Then they spent the night with us so that they could get through that first Christmas without Ray knowing that they were loved. We all felt Ray’s absence that year. And we all felt God’s inbreaking presence. The light shone in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.
God comes into the messiness of our lives, not waiting for the perfect time or the perfect family. God comes as “Emmanuel, God with us.” In this wonderful and stressful season, God comes to us, so that we might be there for each other.
