Lingering Over Christmas
Some seasons of the year are like ladders by which we climb to a purer air and a higher, broader view of life. Christmas is such a time.
Darkness is overcome by light. Cold is overtaken by warmth. Choirs sing like angels. The power that created all the galaxies, all the stars in their courses, becomes flesh and blood in a barn. A sweet, innocent creature is conceived by the extravagant love of God and is born as all infants are born — in the flesh and blood of humanity. The Incarnation can be accepted only with awe and wonder. Jesus was wholly divine and Jesus was wholly human. Like love, the incarnation cannot be explained — only rejoiced in.
In all the “busy-ness” of Christmas — the family gatherings, gift-giving, meal preparation, parties and more, the wonder, joy and awe of the Incarnation seems to disappear quickly. We drop back to our former levels of ordinariness, routine, chores, children, parents and jobs. Often we are left with only a haunting dream by which we remember the mystery and joy of Christmas Eve.
What if we could climb the ladder again and see the stars and hear the angels again? What would it be like to wonder again at the miraculous love of God? What would it be like if, at least for a time, we could linger over Christmas?
Luke offers us such a ladder for lingering. He leaves us with the word “ponder.” “Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Ponder is an interesting word. It may sound a little heavy to our ears — as though “ponder” is calling us to strain for some higher level of intellect. Dr. Eugene Peterson helps us here. He paraphrases, “Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself.”
What did Mary ponder? That the son of God was born in the rudeness of a barn? That Joseph protected and cared for her, even though he understood less than she. The strange visit by the shepherd who told them about the angels announcing that the birth of this child would bring peace to all people.
After the last gift is opened and all the Christmas decorations put away, what if we were to linger over the Incarnation as one carefully carries a precious memory? What if we were to ponder Christmas — to hold Christmas dear and deep within ourselves? What if we were to begin the new year, not only with new resolutions for a better life, but also deeper level of wondering about a love which changes the world?
Somehow in this Child, in the mature human being he grew to become, is the gloriously impossible mystery of God. There is the power to love beyond all understanding. There is the power to make us whole. There is the power to bring life out of death — even to you and me.
May Christ fill you with joy, awe and wonder as you linger over Christmas and ponder the birth of Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace,
Janice Riggle Huie
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