After a year like we’ve been through, it seems reasonable to enter the Christmas spirit of joy and celebration more energetically than usual. But does that mean we just dismiss the dramas of the year, set them aside and hope we don’t have to pick up the burdens next week?
It’s coming up to a year since the death of our beloved mother, so our celebrations will be subdued by the passing of that anniversary. How do we live with sorrow while trying to celebrate Christmas? The truth is that life’s a roller-coaster.
There’s good and bad news, illness and health; a busy working life as well as unemployment; grief and death along with birth and joy.
God doesn’t want us to ignore the bad parts of life.
Christmas reminds us how God came to walk through all of life with us, not just the happy times. He gives us strength to overcome the painful bits that we would prefer hadn’t happened.
Do you need time to reflect on the sorrow of the year and re-orientate your life? This year Auburn Baptist Church will be holding a ‘Blue Christmas’ service on Sunday, December 20, providing the opportunity to address our grief and loss in the middle of this season of joy and hope.
May God’s peace be with us all.
Phil Grebert,
Pastor Auburn Baptist Church.
