An Unusual Christmas

 

In the middle of the night, at 2:30 AM  Christmas day, the winds howled, rousing me from my bed. I got up to check if the air conditioner had mysteriously turned on. Discovering that it was indeed the wind, and since I was already awake, I trekked to the living room. But all the lights on the Christmas tree, the Nativity set and the village houses remained dark. After flicking a switch, I realized there was no power. The temperature had risen to almost 45°in the night and the winds had knocked out the electric in a good part of our corner in the Northeast. 

On top of it, I had difficulty sleeping because of my shoulder surgery and spent some time trying to get comfortable on the couch, to no avail, so I took some medication and went back to bed. At first, I flopped around trying to get comfortable. Nothing worked until about 4 am. I awoke in the morning later than expected because of my midnight wrestling, Then I faced the challenge of no electric on Christmas Day. Rather than complain,  I lit a few candles, as is my tradition, and spent some time in prayer and reading about the birth of Jesus. 

 Without the hum of electric, it was quieter. The peace felt deeper and more in tune with Christmas. Though I had the challenge of no Christmas croissants and how to warm up the ziti, if seemed more like Christmas than in years past. Those thoughts percolated in the back of my head as I sat in the dark living room with no Christmas lights and Christmas houses lit. I thought about that first Christmas. Now there was real power! God in human form bursting  from heaven into the earth!

 On top of all of this, we were in the midst of the worst pandemic that we had ever seen in our lives. Many people around the world were confined to their homes, and many were not seeing family or at least a limited number.  “What are you doing Lord?” I asked. Now you are stripping away all traditions, as well as many festivities. Despite all this, Your Son lay in a manger thousands of years ago and that remained the same. He came into this earth to set us free from sin and that remained the same. His love broke through from heaven to earth, and that remained the same. The light of Jesus spread throughout the world and that remained the same.

 

I realized that the most important and essential meaning of Christmas remained the same. Despite the lack of festivity, Jesus, His light shines through the darkness. His offer to replace our sin with his gift of love remains the same. Even though I did not have the traditional croissants piping hot for Christmas breakfast, the essential ingredient of Christmas remained the same. Perhaps without the lights or the hum of electric, His light shown even more brilliantly because all the trappings were stripped away. Maybe without all the glitter and gifts, we can come to a deeper understanding of the true meaning of Christmas— a stable and a manger, shepherds and angels, a young pregnant teenage virgin and three wise men. Will I be counted as one?

 

The challenge is to remain focused on the babe, the Christ child, and the gift He offers—freedom from sin. This is perhaps the most important issue we will face in our life, especially as Americans, to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. I hope the lessons of this pandemic and this unusual and challenging Christmas, will stay with me and you. It’s god food for thought for the New Year. So, why not take some time now and think about what you learned and how you want to carry that out throughout 2021? I know I will.