Dear one,
Two days ago I received this question: “How do we celebrate Christmas in the midst of sorrows, grief, and brokenness.” This question was raised by one, whose father died last week. As I thought of possible responses, I knew that the pain we label as “grief” is a process: whether or not it consists of those recurring variables of shock, anger, bartering, depression, and acceptance, in and through time it is a very human process. I also knew that if I could not share in the pain of that question, my response would miss the mark.
The word “celebrate,” derived from the Latin celeber, denotes “frequency” and “honor.”[1] That is, celebration is the frequent act of praise or honor given to someone or something. Although I am truly indebted to Charles Dickens and his A Christmas Carol,[2] the moment we begin to append “merry” or “happy” to “Christmas,” we begin to think and act as though “Christmas” is to make us merry and/or happy. Ironically and statistically, as we have done so, we have grown to experience December as the least merry or happy month of the twelve.
Nonetheless, if we truly consider the first Christmas, we recognize that Joseph and Mary’s experience was far from merry or happy. Singly and together, they faced a moral dilemma neither wanted—a dilemma which radically altered the trajectory and any subsequent view of their lives. And however we consider the nature of her conception, together they lived in a world of Roman oppression, perpetrating taxation and death. Moreover, according to Matthew, Jesus’ birth meant the slaughter of innocents; and according to Luke, Jesus was “destined for the falling and the rising of many,” whereby a sword would pierce Mary’s soul (Luke 2:34-35). Little of this makes merry or happy.
So why the centuries’-long tradition of honoring Christmas? Because, I believe, of its long-lived message, “God with us”—not against us or in spite of us, but with us. That is, the God of all creation shares in our sorrow, grief, and brokenness, and by so doing brings light into our darkness, life into our dying, and hope into our despair. By so doing, He redeems, as the Ghost of Christmas Past declared to Scrooge: for “[your] reclamation.”[3]
How can we celebrate Christmas? By the grace of God.
Sincerely,
Stan
[1] Cf. Cassell’s Latin Dictionary (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1968), p.97.[2] If in fact Dickens “invented” Christmas, as a recent movie suggests.[3] Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004), p.31.
Merry Christmas???