I love Christmas and the many stories of this time that are shared, some over and over again.
I vividly remember being 12 years old and helping my Uncle Bill and Aunt Maggie in setting up the Nativity scene at St. Mathias in Hampton. Bill and Maggie were older, so my job was bringing the large statues of Mary, Joseph and the other figures from the upstairs choir loft in the back to be arranged near the front of the church. I continued that tradition of setting up the manger scene for a good many years after high school and seeing it still today brings back memories of Bill, Maggie and many others.
Years after being ordained, I remember visiting a couple, who were parishioners at St. John in Savage, days before Christmas on a cold December night. I remember leaving St. Francis hospital in Shakopee that night and thinking that I had experienced a live Nativity. It wasn’t a perfect parallel with Josh and Carrie and their newborn twins, but that experience still reminds me of how Christ continues to be born in our own time and place if we have the eyes of faith to see it.
In this live Nativity, I felt much like the shepherds on that first Christmas as they watched their sheep by night. Somehow called to the manger, for me by a telephone call rather than angels, but still going and experiencing the wonders of God’s love, and somehow forever changed by it all in a way that calls all of us to be like the shepherds and share a message of “good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” We see this good news shared in many ways that can range from an invitation by an uncle and aunt, to the helping hand of a nephew, to the joyful excitement of new parents.
While there is much joy to be shared, we can lose sight of the fact that for some, these are difficult days. I think of the poor, the hungry and the homeless who are looking to experience the love of Christ in the care and compassion of others. I also think about those who have somehow experienced loss for whom Christmas can be a hard time as they miss a loved one.
In recent weeks I celebrated at St. Joseph in Prescott the funeral of a 46-year-old man who died from cancer. I worked with Mike for a time, and so was asked to celebrate the funeral, which I was glad to do for the family. Mike was married and the father of two sons who are ages 7 and 9. Both the visitation and the funeral were huge in terms of the number of people who attended, and I was quickly reminded of the number of lives that one person can touch in a lifetime.
There were many tears shed between the two days, but there was also a great sense of God’s love present at a time of very real and tragic sadness that brought people together from near and far. The heartfelt care and concern for Mike’s wife and sons was palpable and was its own light in a time of darkness that witnessed to God’s undying love in the journey of our lives, which includes times we might never fully understand. Most touching was Mike’s wife who spoke at the funeral and shared the story of the only time she and Mike ever argued in their 12 years of marriage.
This argument began when one said to the other, “I love you more.” As Jasmine said at the funeral, these words were not spoken in a competitive sense, but rather words spoken in the profound love of a husband and wife. Jasmine explained the meaning to be that the two would love one another more than any hurdle or challenge that life could ever set before them, even death itself.
As we celebrate Christmas, we remember that God loves us more, and so much that Jesus would be born into the world to show us God’s way of love. Christmas calls us all to Bethlehem, not as plaster statues, but as living persons called to see and experience God’s love. That love surrounds us in the best of times and in the most challenging of times with the assurance of Emmanuel: God with us. Christmas also calls us to be like the shepherds as messengers of God’s love to the world through our words and actions.
Finally, while we think about Christmas as something to be celebrated at this time of year, Christmas also calls us to look to the new year ahead and consider our resolutions. May our New Year’s resolution be to live the Christmas spirit and the theme chosen by Pope Francis for the Jubilee Year ahead: as Pilgrims of Hope who share something of God’s love in ways that bring light and goodness to those around us. Christmas blessings to all!
