Merry Christmas.
It's the fourth week of Advent. More
often than not this fourth week of Advent gets shortened to a few
days, which can cause all kinds of additional pre-Christmas stress.
This year, however, is one of those rare years when we have a full
week of Advent before Christmas; and that, for me, is a good thing.
It means we have a full four weeks of
Advent in which to prepare for Christmas in a new place, with new
friends, in a new parish, far from what we have known. Thank you to
everyone who has helped, knowingly or unknowingly, get us settled and
welcomed here. Merry Christmas.
But “Merry Christmas” also has
baggage associated with it. It has become a battle cry in a
non-existent “war on Christmas” that some people want to inflict
on all others, regardless of their religious leanings. During the
campaign, our president-elect promised to mandate everyone say,
“Merry Christmas,” much to the delight of a certain segment of
people and totally ignoring this country's religious diversity.
Sometimes those words that have as
their foundation a sense of hope and peace and goodwill brought into
the world through a young woman and fulfilled in the Christ child
lying helpless in a manger fall on deaf ears. I was at a Christmas
event when I was approached by a man who associated me with
everything wrong with the church and why he would never grace the
doors. I wished him well in his new endeavor and we parted. I
happened to walk past him at the end of the event and said, “Merry
Christmas.” He harrumphed and brushed me aside.
And sometimes this time of year, and
those words, ring hollow or painful. How do the people who will
attend our Community Cafe this week view this time of year and those
words? Or the people who are left lonely, homeless, or on the verge
of homelessness? We have three parishioners who have had
less-than-happy times this holiday season: a daughter's cancer
diagnosis, the death of a brother, the death of a spouse. “Merry
Christmas,” can be far from merry.
There's a lot that “Merry Christmas”
can conjure up this time of year. But with all of that said, I pull
words from Sunday's sermon and the Gospel of Matthew: Emmanuel, God
is with us.
In this holiday season when we
celebrate so much, may you have a blessed Christmas. May family and
friends uphold you and give you strength. May the colors of the
season bring a smile to your face. May the birth of our Lord in a
lowly manger to parents unsure of their place in life give you hope.
May the glory of the angels brighten your dark nights.
May you remember these words –
Emmanuel, God is with us.
In all of your joys and sorrows, in all
of your good encounters and trials, I wish you the best in this
season and in the coming year.
Merry Christmas.
Amen.
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