"In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not." (Matthew 2:18)
That comes from a part of the Christmas story we don't like to talk about very much; that is, when King Herod the Great massacred all boys in the Bethlehem area age 2 and under. He hoped to have killed the Baby Jesus, but Jesus, Mary, and Joseph had previously fled to Egypt.
There can be difficult and sad aspects to Christmas. Yesterday morning I went to my pastors' prayer and fellowship group. One guy commented that our people have the luxury of not really being ready for Christmas in their hearts. They can come to a Christmas Eve service and sit back and be ministered to. On the other hand, we HAVE to be spiritually ready; and it can be a great stress and a lot of pressure when you're conducting a service and you know you're just not ready. Almost every pastor there said he's gone through the motions of conducting a Christmas Eve service and just not being ready. One said that one year he was just not in a good place, and he ended up conducting a very depressing Christmas Eve service which someone commented to him about (critically) later on.
Of course, we've all had great Christmas Eve services, but this CAN be a tough time of the year. On Christmas Day 1975, the car my father was driving (with my sister, my grandmother, and my great aunt as passengers) was plowed into by a drunk driver. The elderly women were injured and taken to the hospital. Christmas was "different" that year. In 1986, my father was in the hospital, having suffered a stroke. Yesterday at the pastor's group, one shared that his mother-in-law is expected to die at any moment. One shared that there are major problems in his church and he may soon be out of a job. One pastor phoned in during the group saying that he had not made it to the group because his wife had been taken ill and hospitalized.
As Elvis Presley once pointed out, for some, Christmas can be a "blue Christmas". Honestly, I had a not-so-good week last week, and I'm having a not-much-better week this week. Two fine Christian families I know are going through terrible problems at this time. But, one of the pastors at yesterday's group summed it up well, saying that we may have problems at Christmas and it may not be picture perfect but we can still rejoice because Jesus Christ is our Savior and we know we'll live eternally with Him. That's true, and it does help put everything in perspective.
EMMYS 1970: My World...and Welcome To It
1 year ago
3 comments:
We are blessed knowing our Savior, especially when the bad times come. We can always count on Jesus for comfort.
Depends on where you place your focus ... People will always let you down ... While God will always pick you up ...
Bob, I don't know anyone who resembles even in the least all those beautiful, smiling, happy people, buying diamonds, cars and expensive presents that are being portrayed on our television screens. I do know many people who are going through very hard times, either because of poor health, caring for elderly parents, loss of a job or a spouse, and for a myriad of reasons. But for the sake of family and with the support of good friends, somehow we are all making it, even if it's just putting one foot in front of the other sometimes, and doing all the normal things, almost from rote. Our hearts are heavy and we just can't identify with the manufactured "Christmas" madness we see on the screen. But if we can somehow force ourselves to think about what Christmas really means, that it represents the coming to earth of God Himself for the specific reason of giving us the gift of eternal life, the only Gift really worth receiving, maybe it'll help for a while to take the focus of ourselves and our many real problems. If we can remember that "this too shall pass," and that we have the promise of eternal life and the reunion with loved ones, it gives some measure of comfort. As I write these words, I realize that I'm addressing them to myself and I know, from experience, it isn't easy, in fact, some days it's really hard, but with God's grace somehow we manage to muddle through. So to all who are suffering today, I wish you a Blessed Christmas.
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