Well, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  We are now just eight days away!  Christmas is without a doubt my favorite time of year, as I’m sure it is for many of you as well.  I love everything about it.  The lights.  The movies.  The traditions with our kids. I can’t wait to read the Christmas story with the family and watch them open their pj’s on Christmas Eve, then sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and open presents on Christmas morning while eating Lacie’s famous sausage and cheese balls.  All of these things and so many more just conspire to make a season of enchantment and wonder. 

But as I sit and ponder the beauty and majesty of the Christmas season, I am reminded of a sobering fact. For many people, the holiday season is not a time of enchantment and wonder.  On the contrary, for many it is a time of great pain and reminder of loss.  For a variety of reasons, many folks are just trying to get through it as quick as they can.  As strange as it seems, many folks are simply trying to survive the holiday season rather than relish it.

So what should the response of one that loves Christmas be?  Should we simply say “poor them”, offer a quick prayer and then get back to our Christmas celebrations?  I’ve been pondering this question a lot lately, and because there so many people, including many in my congregation, that deal with great heartache year round but particularly during the Christmas season, I’m reminded of the importance of focusing not only on the true meaning of Christmas but also focusing on the deeper meaning of the Advent season.

For whatever reason, many churches choose not to focus on Advent.  That is certainly their prerogative, but I choose to celebrate it as a corporate body because of its powerful themes.  Advent simply means “coming”, so we celebrate the coming of Christ for five weeks leading up to Christmas.  We started the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and we’ve been focusing on a different theme related to the Christ’s coming each week culminating in our Christmas Eve services.  The themes are hope, peace, love, and joy.  These themes speak powerfully to all of us about who Christ is and why His coming was and is so important, but they can be particularly powerful to those who are hurting during this season.  Christ came so that we might have hope in a dark world, that we might have peace when chaos surrounds us, that we might be washed in His agape (divine, all-encompassing) love when we feel unlovable, and that we might experience the infinite measure of His joy, even when we might not necessarily be happy about our life situations.  Wow!

What a message!  What a savior!  My friends, this should be our response!  We need to share the message of advent with those we come in contact with, particularly those who are mired in a sense of hopelessness and despair this season.  Let’s share the hope, peace, love, and joy that Christ did bring, is bringing, and will bring to a world that so desperately needs it, whether they realize it or not.  Let us look at those around us, whether it’s at church, work, home, or wherever we may be with intentional eyes.  May we think with intentional minds, and may we feel with intentional hearts.

Have you ever wondered about what the prettiest ornaments on a Christmas tree typically are?  Most of the time, they are the ones that twinkle and shine the brightest.  Why?  Because those ornaments reflect the light that is shining upon it.  What a concept, right?  If the light of the world is shining upon us, then are we reflecting that light and shining brightly so that others can see it and experience the power of its glow?  Everyone seems to love to exchange ornaments during this time of year.  How about we be an ornament of hope, peace, love and joy this season?  That, in my humble opinion, would be an ornament worth sharing with others.

Let us not get caught up in just looking at lights that we forget to be the light.

Merry Christmas.  I love you.

JP