Sometimes I feel like I should be doing more. There must be something left to make - something left to buy - something else to accomplish. But I just wait.
It's a good way to end the Advent season... just waiting. It's part of what this season of the church year is about. Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, they found out that God was working a miracle in their lives and they had to wait for it to be fulfilled.
We read the Christmas story from Luke and Matthew in the New Testament and we don't think about how long the story took to unfold - not just the months of Elizabeth and Mary's pregnancies, but the years between the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah, and others, who proclaimed God's promise to always be with us, to save us from our sins and our selves. We hear the stories of Jesus, his work among the people, and his parables of grace and judgment, and we know that Jesus came not only to the Jews and Gentiles of the first century, but to the generations who have come since, and to the generations to come. This miracle of birth and Spirit was at work in the people of Jesus' time, even in the midst of uncertainty and adversity. Remember that the story of Christmas doesn't end on Christmas day - it's a continuing chapter in the story of God and God's people. Some of this story is joyful, but other parts are hard to hear. On the day after Christmas read all of the second chapter of Matthew. Not only will you encounter the familiar Magi, who came from far away to worship the infant king, but you will also see how God was working, even in the midst of tragedy. Massacres and fleeing are a part of this story, too. In the midst of those struggles, God worked a miracle or two so that the holy family could flee to safety, and then return with the time was right.
God is working a miracle in our lives, too. It may not seem like it. God sometimes feels very far away. But really God is right here... with us in the midst of our joys and surrounding us in difficult times. God is with us in the warmth of friendship, in the constancy of family, in the small miracles of health care, and in reaching out to others in our abundance. In that way, we are the hands and feet of Christ, reaching out to a world in need of this message of real peace and real love. If we can just live out of love, then Christmas can be real for us every day of the year.
May your Christmastide celebrations be filled with much joy and many blessings!
Peace, Deb
[Jesus said," "Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:
I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.’“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25:34-40 The Message)
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