NOT A NORMAL CHRISTMAS

 
NOT A NORMAL CHRISTMAS
 
This will be a different Christmas from other years.  The government as cancelled Christmas socials, and we will be separated from friends and family.  Janet and I recently felt the pain of having to cancel a long anticipated visit from our son, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons.  Many others have had to make similar hard choices. 
 
How do we respond to the strangeness of this COVID Christmas?  I have three modest suggestions:

• Grieve your losses.  While there is an important place for telling ourselves that “other people have it worse” and that “there will always be next year;” I don’t think that is the place to start.  The Biblical pattern for processing our emotions is to talk to God honestly about them.  It is okay and necessary to feel our feelings, and God cares about them; so, tell him what is going on inside.  Once we are secure in God’s love for us, we will actually be in a better place to accept those other bits of advice we give ourselves.
• Meditate:  The pandemic can help us gain a deeper appreciation for the true meaning of Christmas.  After all, the nativity was not a social function in which “fun was had by all”.  Joseph and Mary were alone in a strange place.  At a time a when a pregnant young woman would normally yearn for the loving support of her family, Mary was relegated to a stable to give birth to her firstborn.  Christmas was even different for God—after all, his Son wasn’t home for Christmas! The austerity of our COVID Christmas can actually help us to enter more deeply into what Christmas is actually about.
• Love:  Many people are feeling the same sense of loneliness and loss that you may be feeling right now.  How might your reach out to them?  The true spirit of Christmas is love—after the pattern of God’s self-giving love in sending Jesus.  So consider: whose Christmas season can you brighten through your love and encouragement this year?  

Have a blessed Christmas.  I hope this year you will experience blessings as unexpected as the times we are living through. –Pastor Tom 
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