Show Notes: Ep 2 When The Christmas You Plan Isn't The Christmas You Get

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned.--Isaiah 9:2

Looking around on social media and talking with friends, it seems to me that Christmas spirit is running a bit low this year. I think one reason Christmas feels so hard for some of us is because we want what we've been sold. And what we've been sold is the picture of a perfect, cozy holiday where all the hard things are shored up just in time for Christmas. In reality, hard things don't take off for the holidays. Stress, illness, divorce, brokenness can be deal with or overlooked for the sake of the day, but it isn't resolved. And we crave that resolution. We want what we've been promised and we want it with some twinkle lights and a red bow and some hot cocoa.

So what do we do? If you're me this year you complain. A lot. And then you have a breakthrough. What if all the hard is supposed to help us pare down? What if the struggle is designed to make us go slow?

In days gone by, when the church year organized daily life and the darkness of winter had greater impact, Advent was a time of reflection, resting, retreating before the big celebration. We've lost that over the centuries and I think something precious was stolen from us. The Christmas season now is so bustling full, there's no room for the real light to break through. And that's what we really need. That's what we were actually promised.

Humans haven't had perfection since Eden and the fall. Thought we've been duped with the image of it ever since. The false perfection only creates more anxiety, more isolation, more hunger. We must learn to let it go so we can hold the true perfection.

It came in the form of a baby boy. Helpless, wriggling, squishy, crying baby. The fullness of God, salvation, and the longed for perfection emerged from a woman's womb into a dark stable on a starlit night. It's a far cry from a Hallmark movie.

But in this breakthrough from Heaven, in this bold incredulous move by the Godhead, we humans can have what we truly crave. Restoration, peace hope, perhaps even joy. Oh, the hard doesn't go away. The hard came for Jesus and sent his family fleeing to Egypt. The hard found him thirty years later and nailed him to a tree. Yet in His suffering, he bought our freedom. And in our suffering, we learn to love and trust and live like he did.

It isn't easy. We don't have script writers, directors, editors, and make-up artists working out all the flaws. Instead, we have the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Indeed, we have the Word made flesh.

In Him was the life and the life was the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. --John 1:4-5

Gather the Good

"Mary had several plans for her first Christmas at Appleshaw but none of them materialized. That, she thought, was the way of Christmas plans. There was something disruptive about Christmas and not only in the merely material way. The original Christmas had proved exceedingly disruptive to the entire world and the tremors of the original event vibrated through every life year by year.--The Scent of Water, by Elizabeth Goudge. 

This December hasn't gone according to plan. The vision I had for this season has fallen apart. The lists we joyfully checked off last year have been a hot mess this year. I've not handled it graciously. But there is still good to be gathered. As I'm learning--you take the best and you leave the rest.

So here is my best of December 2019:

I've already recommended Joel Clarkson but it bears repeating. We also love For King and Country's Christmas Album. It's been a favorite for a few years but we were blown away by their performance on CMA Country Christmas. I hear that's playing again on Christmas Eve so you might want to check it out, or you can always YouTube it [or read this post on Little Drummer Boy. Their clip is at the end.] I also recommend Rend Collective's Campfire Christmas. It's a really great album, super fun songs, and also some really poignant songs. Definitely check it out.

Also for your listening enjoyment, I recommend the podcast 'Speaking With Joy'. Hosted by Joy Clarkson, yes, that's Joel's sister, she delves into the themes of Advent and presents up with beautiful art, music, and literature. I know it's later in the season but turn it on while you drive or wrap gifts. You'll be glad you did. I absolutely love this podcast. I've learned a lot.

And last I'm ending with some clips of my kids. My seven year old learned to play a little bit of piano this December. He also wanted to recite his memory verse. And of course, my almost four year old couldn't be left out, so she sings her little remix of 'Jingle Bells'.

From my family to yours, have a happy, imperfect, joyous Christmas. Happy Holidays!

The Season of Breaking Through (Gather the Good)

"Emmanuel has come to us. The Christ is born, Hallelujah! Our God made low to raise us up. Emmanuel, has come to us." ---God Made Low

Next Sunday is the start of Advent, December 1st. Whether you are religious or not, the Christmas season comes hard and heavy, at least in most parts of the Western World. We get bombarded with tinsel, gift wrapping, and Bing Crosby for at least twenty-five days straight. I think we all end up feeling rather Charlie Brown about it, that Christmas is too commercial, and can't we all just sing around a sad little tree in the spirit of love and friendship? Nope. We know we can't. Expectations and pressure and the burden of perfect, magical memories weight heavy. It's a lot.

To be quite honest, some years I feel Christmas, and some years I don't. This year, I've been feeling a decent amount of anxiety about it. I feel overwhelmed by the burden of expectations and wish lists. I'm tired and don't have any idea how to muster up the wherewithal to pull it off. I know I am not alone.

"As He sleeps upon the hay He holds the moon and stars in place. Though born an infant He remains the sovereign God of endless days."--God Made Low

We sang a brand new (to me) Christmas song this past week at church. There was something about hearing a totally new song on such a familiar subject that was able to chip away a bit of the rock formation around my heart. In that moment of clarity, in the respite from the weariness, I understood that this is the season of breaking through.

Breakthroughs are amazing things. Sometimes the breakthroughs seem small to us grown people, like the light bulb that finally went off for my son that unlocked the world of reading, or when my daughter figured out potty training. We did these things so long ago that we forget the independence and sense of pride that came with them. Some breakthroughs impact the world--like when Edison finally got his light bulb right. And some breakthroughs happen in inches and degrees and in the mundane everyday moments, like when I choose patience over anger, gratitude over entitlement, grace over bitterness.

"You didn't want Heaven without us, so, Jesus, you brought Heaven down..."--What a Beautiful Name

And for Christians,  Christmas is when we stop to remember the moment when Christ broke through. His breakthrough was like none other in all of history or mankind. He broke through the wall of darkness that separated the created from the Creator, the beloved from the lover, the children from their Father. His break through demanded the attention of all heaven and hell, even though most of the Earthlings slept right through it.

I don't really care if it's historically accurate to celebrate this moment in late December. I don't really care about Saturnalia and pagan roots. It's interesting conversation, but it's not exactly the point. The point is that Jesus came, he saw, he conquered (and he did it a lot better than Caesar), and it's worth remembering, it's worth celebrating. I realize that the victory came at Calvary, but without Bethlehem, we have no way to the cross. To rend the veil in the temple, a breach first had to be made into our world at all.

"For all our sins one day He'll die to make us sons of God on high. Let every heart prepare Him room. The promises have all come true."--God Made Low

Since I was in middle school, I read a book almost every year called The Birth by Gene Edwards. It's a short little book, probably a novella actually. And it's told from the perspective of Michael and Gabriel, the archangels. In this book, Michael actually has to bust a hole in an iron or steel wall that has come to separate Earth from Heaven so that Gabriel can get through to Mary. I don't know if that's a Biblically accurate idea or not, but it's a powerful one anyway. There had to be a literal breakthrough on the part of Heaven to penetrate the palpable darkness of sin and evil coating the entire world. And not just a message came through. Emmanuel. God with us. Jesus.

So. It's late November. Thanksgiving is just a few days away. We decorated our tree and my Amazon shopping cart is full. Christmas steadily approaches. The question is: will this be a season of breakthrough in my own heart? Will the coating of weariness, uncertainty, frustration be busted open in this season of light? God, I hope so, I pray so. Let it be so. Let the trappings and burdens fall away. They're not real. They don't matter in the end. What matters is the breakthrough. I know I need one this year. And I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.

I'll be sharing some of my favorite Christmas music, books, recipes, and so on here on the blog over the next weeks and days. It's a deliberate choice on my part to share beautiful things when I would rather just skip it and sleep. I had a realization the other day that beauty ingested but not shared will only ferment and rot inside. So, I'll be sharing and I hope it blesses you, and helps you find some light in a frazzled season.

"God rest ye, merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day to save us all from Satan's pow'r when we were gone astray. O' tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy. O' tidings of comfort and joy!" --God Rest Ye Merry Gentlmen