Christmas, Terrorist Attacks, Racial Tension - and Hope

Every Christmas season I seem to find myself reading through the book of Isaiah and gravitating toward songs like “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “O Holy Night.” Perhaps because it's the story of my spiritual journey, I'm mesmerized by the idea of hope and light overcoming depravity and darkness. This is what Christmas is all about. 

Being from Wisconsin, most of my memories of  Christmas Eve and Christmas Day include bitter cold and dark, dreary weather. But bursting through the cold and darkness are fond memories of family, friends, my mom singing in church on Christmas Eve, and a feeling of warmth and home - hope and light in the midst of an eternal winter.

Picture from nbcnews.com

But every Christmas it seems like there are things taking place in the world that could make it seem like the universe is spinning out of control. In just the last few weeks we've seen stories about racial tension in the United States, hostages in Australia, children being massacred in Pakistan, threats from North Korea - and the list goes on. And yet this is exactly the kind of world that Jesus entered into in order to give hope - one of oppression, violence, and greed.

Read these words from Isaiah 9:

² The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
³ You have enlarged the nation
    and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.
⁴ For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
    you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor.
⁵ Every warrior’s boot used in battle
    and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.
⁶ For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne  and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

This couldn't be more different than the story of Christmas that many of us grew up with. It seems that when Christmas is more about lambs and manger scenes and wise men bringing gifts and a whole litany of other things that aren't even in the Bible, we take the potency and hope away from the Christmas story.

Instead, what if we talked about Christmas alongside Ebola outbreaks, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, broken relationships, addictions, and injustice? Alongside the stories of the oppressed, hurting, forgotten, and marginalized?

Because this is a story worth telling, a story of God's Kingdom breaking through disorder and entering into our messy lives. A story of hope in the midst of chaos, light shining through the darkness, peace instead of war, and love and goodness overwhelming evil - all because God chose to take on flesh in the form of an infant in order to reconcile all things to Himself.

So after the table is cleared in a few days, scraps of wrapping paper are taken away to the trash, friends and family load up the car to return home, and you're once again faced with the stresses and challenges of every day life, take heart, because there is hope for a better future, regardless of what you're going through!

Merry Christmas!

CK