O Come Emmanuel

Alice is in bed… I don’t know how long she will stay there, but for the moment she is comfortable and resting. I’m sitting here with my ears perked listening for the slightest moan of pain. 

One of the first things I thought about back in August was “how will this impact our holidays this year?” – I wondered if we’d spend a holiday in the hospital, or what it would feel like to miss out on our normal traditions. We have been surprised as each special day has come and gone and we’ve gotten to celebrate together, at home, more or less “normally”. Each day has been a gift – and has felt like a miracle. 

Here we are one week from Christmas, with our girl fighting terrible pain, moving from sofa to bed and back to the sofa – giving thanks for the people and modern conveniences which make this actually doable… and I’m finding that this may be the best Christmas yet. 

Because there wouldn’t even be a Christmas if all our lives looked like Hallmark Christmas movies. Who needs Jesus when everything always turns out right? If there wasn’t sickness, or death, or poverty, or broken relationships, or dashed dreams, or longings unfulfilled – then God wouldn’t have needed to enter into our world at all. 

The Old Testament prophets sure weren’t living in one of those films. Or they wouldn’t have written things like this:

(Isaiah 61:1-4)The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;[a]
    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;[b]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.[c]
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
    they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
    the devastations of many generations.

You don’t need good news if you’ve never received bad news.
You don’t need healing if your body/heart has never been broken.
You don’t need freedom if you’ve never been in bondage.
You don’t need comfort if you’ve never mourned. 
And you sure don’t need to be built up if you’ve never been torn down. 

Oh the Joy that is Christmas! Emmanuel – God with us! All other gods wait for humanity to get their act together – to please him/her – to be good enough to merit a pass at least and praise at best. But Jesus – is the opposite. The God of the Bible doesn’t glance at us occasionally out of boredom or irritation. No, He LOVES us. So He stepped off His throne. He gave up all His rights of heaven and entered our world not as we would imagine – a warrior, a powerful king, a leader of influential people… but as a baby – helpless, poor, and fragile. And He experienced every single hurt, pain, brokenness, longing and disappointment that we do. 

At any point He could have called in the angels or just returned to His throne room. But instead He stumbled all the way to the cross – carrying every imaginable burden we’ve ever experienced. And when He died, and then rose again, He set in motion the final redemption of our world. The final and perfect healing for each of us. All we have to do is say yes to Jesus! 

So, our Christmas this year doesn’t look even remotely like a Hallmark movie, but the beauty and sweetness of Christmas – of God drawn near, reaching in and saying “I will make this right” fills our hearts with rejoicing!

“O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.”

love, m