So this is Christmas and a Happy New Year
It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you. Mother Teresa
Picture the sun rise. The “dawn from on high” breaks upon us, its brightness covers the earth. The sun is born, and brilliant light covers the earth. The analogy grows to bring the light of joy, of peace, of tranquility. Hope is here for those lost in darkness.
So this is Christmas, John Lennon sings. Another year over and a new one just begun. And what have we done? A great Christmas starts with the Baptist’s cry, “Repent! The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1).
Like that first Christmas, our world of sin and war and suffering needs a remake. Lennon’s song calls for Christmas For weak and for strong / The rich and the poor ones. The song continues For black and for white / For yellow and red ones / Let’s stop all the fight.
Three times the song echoes Let’s hope it’s a good one? Without any fear. When the angels, God’s messengers appear to Mary, to Joseph, to the Shepherds, their greeting is fear not.
The song “So this is Christmas” stays with me throughout Advent, Christmas and into the New Year. We shared it through many family Christmases at the farm as we launched our New Year celebrations – The near and the dear ones / The old and the young. It sits on my heart still.
God keeps inviting us to a newer and a better year. There is nothing we can’t face with Jesus helping us. “My yoke is easy, and my burden light” (Matthew 11:30). When Jesus shares our yoke, our step is lighter. I remember our farm horses. When the big Clydesdale was hooked up to the yoke, the other horse had a free ride.
If you have any doubts, think back on last year’s blessings. Not just the financial ones. Another of my siblings went home to God. His Spirit, like a pulse set free, went home to God. We saw that. With moist eyes we acknowledged that.
Fear not, I have redeemed you (Isaiah 43:1) reminds us we can be strong in the New Year. I hope you have fun, Lennon sings. We can hope because Jesus came to tell us of God’s mercy.
Always there are signs beyond nature that tell us of God’s love from beyond. Norman Powers of Alabama shares, “My stepfather, Marlin, bought a dancing Christmas tree decoration as a gimmick. Marlin passed away in 2014. My sister Stacy had taken possession of it along the way. Stacy got engaged to her longtime boyfriend on Thanksgiving night. Marlin had met him.
“The tree was unpacked but had no batteries. Later that evening, with all the ladies sitting around talking, the tree lit up and started to dance! The empty battery pack was in hand, and the only conclusion we could reach was that Marlin was sending his blessing and dancing a jig.”
Dayle Vickory of Florida narrates, “My daughter and only child, Talena, was killed by a drugged driver in 1994. It nearly destroyed me, but I kept going somehow. I had a favourite picture of Talena about three—Christmas Day, me sitting on the floor and her sitting on my lap. Somehow, I lost that picture after she died. A few years later, on Christmas Day, I opened a book and found the photo inside. I know she sent it to me as a present from heaven.”
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