John 1:1-18
What has come into
being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. –John 1:3-5 describing Jesus, the Word made
Flesh.
For a number of years, I didn’t look forward to Christmas
very much. In 1996, my dad died very
suddenly a few days before Christmas. In
December of 1997, I developed blood clots in both my lungs and nearly
died. In December of 1998, my wife was
diagnosed with breast cancer. As we
entered the Christmas season in 1999, my nine year old daughter asked, “is it
my turn to get real sick this year?” In
the years that followed, the coming of December 1 always brought me a sense of
dread and grief. I put on a happy face, and
went through the motions, but related more to the Grinch and Scrooge than to
the shepherds kneeling reverently at the manger.
Christmas can be a difficult time for many people. Grief, loneliness, family problems,
unemployment or underemployment and a host of other issues can cloud the
holiday season with sadness and depression.
The Christmas lights, merry music, parties, shopping frenzy and good
cheer can grate. Something deep down
tells us that the joy of Christmas is not for us.
But, in fact, when you strip the holiday season down to it’s
core – the birth of the savior of the world – you find that Christmas is exactly
for people like us. It is for everyone
who has ever faced the holiday season with feelings of dread.
Jesus, the Word made Flesh, was born precisely because the
world is a broken and difficult place. Jesus
was born to take on all the hatred, all the sadness, all the violence, all the
terror, all the pain and hurt and depression…
and nail it to a cross… in order to prove, to prove for all time, that
God’s love is stronger than all the horror the world can muster. Jesus rose again on the third day to
demonstrate for the whole world that life is stronger than death.
Christmas means nothing without Easter. Once I began to see the Risen Lord wrapped in
the swaddling clothes Christmas began to make sense to me again. Now, when I kneel with the shepherds by the
manger, I see the One who gave my dad new life, the One who healed me and my
wife, and the One who walked with my daughter through her childhood fears. The One who walks with us still. And for that, I can only sing Joy
to the World!
Have a blessed Advent and Christmas,
Bishop Mike
This will be Bishop Mike’s last “On The Way” for 2015. See you all in January!
Thanks Bishop Mike for a timely message.
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