Christ May You Come

When the halls are decked and sweet songs are sung into the night, the loneliness seems to land like a thick blanket. The hope, the expectation, the unfulfilled longing are all wrapped into one another, taking turns grasping at our hearts. Somehow it is the most wonderful and most devastating time of the year. This year especially, this year when the cries of the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in Syria echo over the song of His coming. This year when we still don't live as though black or brown lives matter and our divisions seem deeper than ever. This year when we have lost great prophets and poets. This year when fear and terror seemed to have the last word.This year when even our own have turned against us. This year when some babies are warm in their mother's arms and others are ripped from their mother's arms. And yet, Christmas comes. Wrapped in worn out and mud covered cloths, our greatest hope arrives. Again and again He comes, regardless of the state of our hearts, homes or nations, Christmas always comes, entering our torn and worn out hearts once again. And we hold hope and helplessness tenderly in the same hand, begging the former to outweigh the latter. And the light comes, and struggles to overtake the darkness. Yet, the warm glow is on our faces whether we know it or not. The promise of light and hope and healing and making all things new is before us once again...

Christ, may you come. May you come through our despair, may you come through our selfishness, may you come through our divisions, may you come through our ignorance, may you come through our loneliness, may you come through our longings, may you come through our brokenness, may you come through our wickedness, may you come through our tears and fears and self-sufficiency, may you come through our lack and over abundance, may you come. Where there seems to be no way through, Christ, may you come.

Christ, may you come through our joy and plenty, may you come in our answered prayers and rejoicing, Christ, may you come in the cry of the newborn babe and the whispers of "I love you." Christ may you come as we forgive and heal and love our neighbor. Christ, may you come in the beauty of a sunset and the sound of the rushing wind. Christ, may you come as we listen and learn from one another and bear one another's burdens. Christ, may you come in the light of the candle and the light of a little one's smile. Christ, may you come.

This Christmas, may we hold the tension, let the tears come, cry out or just cry, rest, pray, rejoice and finally, let hope fill our weary soul again. Christ has come. 

PS. Here is a way you can join the fight for justice in Syria, check out the work of Preemptive Love and learn about how to use you voice, prayers and resources to stand with Syria. Hugs! 

http://www.preemptivelove.org/