Christmas

 

Well, we’ve made it to Christmas. Another long year in the books, once again not the easiest but we’ve made it! Maybe not quite as brutal as 2020 but still a far reach from what we could have imagined a few years back. This year has been a rollercoaster for us all, ups and downs gradually building themselves up across the past 12 months with many situations that have sapped us of our happiness and our energy and then many situations have provided us with such joy and freshened spirit. For me there’s been many of both, with so much change, so much unknown, it’s been a rocky ride, but it’s been a good one. This festive period is such a special time just to look forward and prepare for the next.

I love the story in Mark 2:1-12, where he tells the paralyzed man to pick up his mat and walk, that mat had so much pain from his story within it. That mat that he was carried on anywhere he went, Jesus tells him to take it with him. Using the mat to help him witness through his story. You can imagine him after he walked out of the venue and then someone asked him ‘What’s that mat for?’ All the pain that is in that mat, everything that was in that story has now come to joy, it ended with him walking out of the building. Many of us don’t want to take our past with us as a reminder of where we were. It’s painful and acts as a constant trauma that holds onto us but trying to let it go is pushing us away from God’s grace into that pain. This cocktail of joy and pain is interweaved throughout the Christmas story we may be oh so familiar with at this time of year.

I wonder what it was like for Joseph on that first Christmas, as he stood over the manger where Jesus lay? Looking at this child that was God’s and yet his at the same time. I wonder what he felt as people would come over doting at the child and congratulating him on becoming a father for the first time, knowing that Jesus was his, and the saviour of humankind; knowing that he was chosen to burden the responsibility of bringing up “the Christ”, and all in the knowledge that Jesus wasn’t his own flesh and blood. No doubt that in the middle of the early morning wakeful hours Joseph would have experienced both joy and pain in equal measures – as did the man with his carpet in Mark.

We as humans are capable of feeling, experiencing, and grappling with various emotions at once. On this Christmas day, you too will undoubtedly be feeling the same. Some highs, lows, missed opportunities, and “What-if’s”. It’s in these times that we are able to think about the things that we do have, and we only feel disappointment because we have had something and lost it.

Take a moment this Christmas time to thank God for the things you have had, rather than the things you do not; the things, people and opportunities you have loved, rather than focussing on the disappointment of what hasn’t happened, and I’m sure God will bring you peace this Christmas time.

Join me as we pray for those:

  • Who are grieving this Christmas time as this may be the first time without a loved one.
  • Children or Young people who may not receive a gift this year. That there will be people to make them smile.
  • The message and truth of Christmas will travel far and wide – that many may come to know Jesus.
  • This next year will be fruitful and a blessing to many more than just ourselves.
  • That God will use our strength and struggles for his glory.
  • That in the ups and downs we’ll keep seeking God for purpose.

 

Written by Josh Bennett – Intern for Swindon Youth for Christ.