There is a lot of pressure put on the Holidays in America. If one watches TV or listens to the radio, it seems that this is the season for family and friends both near and far. And no matter the distance in miles or the distance in attitude, this is the season for closeness.
I get fairly disgusted with the whole idea. Like singing and dancing snowmen can warm a curmudgeon's heart. That one taste of Aunt Mable's pie will so flood one with good feelings from the past that all wrongs are forgotten and fresh starts are handed out all around. Bah Humbug.
But today I was thinking of Advent. Of shalom. How way back in the garden shalom was broken with one bite of fruit. How God stopped walking in the garden in the cool of the evening. At the first Advent, God again walked in the garden.
We look back at Jesus coming to live the life that we couldn't and dying the death that we deserve and we see that shalom can be restored. That it is being restored. We look forward, knowing that he is coming again in the clouds to finish the job. That there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth and we, who have been given to Jesus as His bride, will have new bodies.
So, yes, there is a lot of pressure on the Holidays. This is the Season to come together. To restore relationships. To let bygones be bygones. To give fresh starts. To remember, not so much that shalom was broken but more so that God is restoring it. One heart at a time. One card at a time. One bite at a time.
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1 comment:
I enjoyed this post. Christmastime has taken on a bittersweetness in my mind. It seems that there has been "something", some sort of crisis going on in my family for the last 5 years or so at Christmas time. Some years the "something" has been a life or death type crisis, other years it has come in more of a subtle way. When I hear the radio full of a grating "It's the most wonDERful time of the year!" I am comforted that Christmas is the beginning of hope, that Christ joined us here on earth in the midst of all of these crises, to save us. He's in our midst still.
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