Let me just say that Christmas is my most favorite Holiday by far! I love it because its visually beautiful, filled with fellowship, lush music, and often times...rest. I suspect that my lavish heart loves Holidays that are ultimately simple articulations of what's inside of me. I love, love, love Christmas. That doesn't mean that their haven't been hard and sad Christmases, it just means that I choose to see the beauty of the season as a time to remember all that is Good.
People who know me well know this about me, but they sometimes wonder how can someone who has faced child abuse, foster care, suicide, and splintered families be in love with a holiday that can represent the contradiction of all that is broken. It would seem that a Holiday like that would make one extremely sad...or at least jaded.
There is no denying that a season like Christmas can intensify the feelings of imperfection...and can send us all down a path of regret...thinking about what we don't have, who doesn't love us, and who has betrayed our trust. But, Christmas can be more than that. It has been road trips for friends in need of fellowship, plane tickets to friends in need of a break from life, a gift for someone who hasn't expected that you are thinking about them, the gift of food for someone who hasn't had a home-cooked meal, a much needed haircut and shopping outing for an awkward teen, a heartfelt conversation and dinner outing for a cousin, and a long-awaited trip to the movies for long-lost siblings (lacking funds of their own).
When I think of Christmas, I think of two grandparents who lived on 6200 Fairfield Rd., in Columbia, South Carolina...who had grandchildren even though they had no children of their own. I think of their deep generosity and love and care for me and my brother. I think of their protection from a horrible world...and I think of having been raised by them for 12 years in a house full of love and "can do" spirit and possibility. I think of how they sought to make each Christmas special, with live fur trees filled with antique ornaments and amazing gifts and poinsettias and stockings and little antiques houses and friends and church and music. I think of them each Christmas. I saw them yesterday, when I visited their grave site. I think of their lavish love in spite of the world (and the station) to which we were born. I celebrate Christmas with splendor because of their HOPE & LOVE!
And maybe that's not enough for someone because they've never had people love on them like that. And for that I'd like to remind you of the this story of Faith. I'd like to remind you that Jesus being born in a manger is no accident...it wasn't happenstance. Jesus was born in the middle of animals and hay and surely little critters. I imagine in that space there must have been animal droppings and feces all around. Dare I say it crudely, Jesus (God's Lavish Gift to us) was born in the middle of some "shit." And to add, he was given scraps of cloth to keep him warm. This may mean nothing to the person who can't see it, but to some of us...all we've known is "shit"...shitty families, shitty christmases, shitty circumstances. But there is GOOD News...because right in the middle of shit...was HOPE...Living Hope! Right in the middle of the worst kinds of conditions was God's Lavish Gift to the world to remind us of His love...and only scraps kept God warm.
And for me, I am reminded that Hope is living with us in the worst kinds of conditions, in the worst kinds of places, in the worst parts of town, and with the worst kind of people. I am reminded that Hope lived on 6200 Fairfield Rd. and Hope was in Bethlehem. So, I honor the Holiday season because it reminds me that even when I'm feeling lonely and abandoned there is still Hope and Restoration! I am reminded that it began with Jesus in A Manger...became James & Thelma Payne in Columbia and resides with me and my wife in Durham.
I pray all of you would give yourselves over to a season of Hope so that you could experience Restoration before you even see it!
No comments:
Post a Comment