For Karen and me, like many of you, this will be our first Christmas on our own – ever. Since we first met, we shared Christmas with our families. Early on, we would travel to her parents’ home for the Christmas Eve Candlelight service in a small country church in Tilley, Alberta. Afterward, we would open gifts and enjoy a Christmas dinner. Early Christmas morning, we would travel to my parents’ home in Lethbridge, where we would attend the Christmas Day service, then return to their home to open gifts and enjoy a second Christmas dinner.
In our 41 years of marriage, we have either been with our parents and other relatives or our own children – or all of the above. In more recent years, this has included our children and their families – in or around Christmas – as “in-laws” and grandparents we have learned to be flexible…
This year, it will be Karen and me. Family will join us via ZOOM, and we will look forward to this! Our turkey will remain frozen for another day. Our gifts have already been distributed to various family households.
Most of you will have similar stories in this year of pandemic. Christmas plans have been changed for all of us, as of the latest directive from our Provincial Health Officer on December 7.
As I have reflected on all this, I am thankful for Karen and her presence, but together, we do grieve the loss of this special time with our family. I am sure that you identify with this. We also find a great peace and comfort in knowing that our family truly desires to be together. There is not conflict or tension that keeps us apart, it is simply living in compliance with the latest orders from the Provincial Health Officer.
Also, the first Christmas must have been a rather lonely one too. Can you imagine Mary and Joseph? They had traveled some 90 miles from Galilee to Bethlehem, in compliance with the census orders of the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus. Mary was about to give birth, and Joseph desperately sought out a decent place for Mary, the one he was pledged to marry, to deliver her baby. It was not Joseph’s baby, or “their” baby. It was the promised baby, fathered by God himself.
How alone Joseph and Mary must have felt that night! This young couple had processed so much over the preceding nine months. How do they explain this pregnancy – to one another – to their families – to their neighbours – to those at the local synagogue? Joseph and Mary had the benefit of visits from angels to explain the conception of the child she carried. As for others, would they have believed their story? And now, arriving in Bethlehem, even their own relatives did not provide shelter for them. (The word usually translated “inn” is more typically translated “guest room” or accommodation.
Yet, there they were – all alone, and “camping out” in a borrowed stable. They were accompanied by animals, not midwives, family and helpers, and it was there that the Christ Child was born. Once the child was delivered, it was not the elite who came to worship, but uneducated, untrustworthy (shepherds were not allowed to testify in a court of law) and unwashed shepherds. All their lives, they had been reminded of their low status before others and before God. These men would have understood and appreciated hope of rescue through this Child. The angel had promised a Saviour! Christ the Lord Himself had sent, and in fact had become their rescuer, and they were compelled to come to personally witness this child.
In reality, none of us will really be alone this Christmas morning. Christ has come to rescue. Christ has promised that we are inseparable from Him and his great love – nothing – absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God that is ours on Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39). May we all be mindful of God’s peace and the presence of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ as we experience a quieter Christmas this year.
When I reflect on the Scriptures, I think of how many biblical characters were alone, but for God’s presence. For many, their “calling” meant being rejected by others. Abraham. Moses. Gideon. Ruth. Isaiah. Jeremiah. David. The Apostle Paul… All these and more, experienced abandonment and isolation, yet, the Lord was very present with each one.
One more thought – as I was recently preaching from 1 Peter, a letter penned by Peter to young and persecuted Christians in the region we now know as Turkey, I was challenged by Peter’s reminder that they/we are but “temporary residents” here on earth. Their citizenship, and all the rights and privileges that go with it is actually in heaven. Same for us! It can be hard to keep this focus in our world that is so wrapped up in the moment.
The prayer of Karen and me, is that while we may be apart from family and loved ones this year, that we will be united together with them for eternity when we all reach “home.” This is really much more important. Through Christ, we can gain the right and privilege to become permanent citizens with Christ in Heaven. No more pandemic. No more social distancing. No more saying “good bye.” No more suffering. We will all be safely home in the arms of Jesus – and all because of Jesus.
As the lyrics of “Amazing Grace” remind us…
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.
Merry Christmas! In Christ, none of us is truly on our own.
