December 13, 2020
My dear friends,
During this season of Advent, I have been thinking about .... pondering ... Mary and Joseph’s journey, their arrival, and their stay in Bethlehem; each section proving arduous in its own right. We sing “Silent night, holy night,” but was it really? If we asked that young couple, I imagine they would say it was messy and hard and disappointing on so many levels ... not to mention really scary at times. The journey probably wasn’t one either of them wanted to take. Yet in the midst of that hardship, the crushed dreams and the dashed hopes, hindsight reveals that God was working ... working to redeem the world.
We all take unwanted journeys. Life will have its moments ... its seasons ... of disappointments, of overwhelming loss and great sorrow, of intense pain. The flag of my own heart is flying half mast tonight as I remember my own brother’s funeral and burial on this date three years ago. Journeys are not always easy ones.
No doubt, this year has provided heartache, disappointment and fear for so many of you. And like Mary, these were journeys you didn’t want to take. But the good news is that just as God was working in Mary and Joseph’s journey, He is working in ours, yours and mine, to redeem.
Amidst the contractions and labor pains, among all the sounds and smells of her environment, I doubt Mary heard the singing of the angels or felt the excitement of the shepherds running to find her. But she did hold a newborn baby — a baby named Emmanuel. A baby named “God With Us.”
My dear ones, that is also your story. It is mine. No matter how dark our journey is nor how afraid we might be, God is with us ... giving us courage in each next step, mercy in each new day, peace in every uncertainty, and hope in knowing that this is not the end of the story. He is with us, by our side, and forever good and faithful — yes, even when we can’t hear the angels singing.
Be blessed with this peace this Christmas ... the Peace of Emmanuel — “God With Us.”
With much love and grace to each of you,
Nancy
