“Christmas is a time of hope? Whoever says this obviously doesn’t know me. They obviously don’t know what I’ve been through, and what I’m going through now. The holiday season is a trial to be endured, not a time to be celebrated. This is not a season of hope.”
Indeed, Christmas does not, and should not, bring false hope. The fact that God took on flesh does not promise that we will never suffer, that families will stay intact, or that we will never experience profound loss. That may be made more intense over the holidays.
What the arrival of Jesus promises is that God truly and deeply loves and cares for us. That God loves and cares for us so much that God took on flesh and walked among us, comforting us. And taught us that we were created to take care of others, to be God’s loving presence for them.
Today’s question for all of us is this: who is God calling you to care for? Who can we love that desperately needs it this Advent season? For whom can we be the comforting light of Christ?
