Have you ever stayed up all night just to experience the dawn – the gradual dimming of the stars as light gently pushes back the darkness revealing the now? Somehow all is refreshed, brilliant – light has come.
Christmas is just this – Light blessing the now. Christmas is not the end of the Advent waiting and journeying. It is the dawn of Advent. It is Light blessing and sanctifying the journey, the waiting itself.
Who waits for whom? Who blesses whom? Parents, siblings, buddies and lovers pensively wait for those who are engaged in the military or the ministry, on a mission or in service to others to come home. Parents eager with anticipation wait for the infant soon to be born. Parents, friends and strangers compassionately journey with the lost and forsaken. Longingly families and friends wait for the estranged; the outcasts in yearning wait for welcome. The hungry in trust wait for the cook. The homeless in hope wait for the host. The jobless in faith wait for the employers. The imprisoned desiring freedom waits for the visitor. And children everywhere joyfully wait for the anticipated delight.
And so I walk, and I knock, and I wait. At times I sleep. At times I awake. At times I am cold. At times I am warmed. At times I am hungry. At times I am nourished and nurtured. But in the hush of Christmas I am invited to witness the gift of the Light that shines in the now. I am invited to notice and to receive the sanctifying presence within my journey, my waiting. I am invited to sing Alleluias to the Christ in my life. To Jesus, Who walks with me in the now – wherever and however that is.
And the good news: Christmas is for all of God’s children. Alleluia, Alleluia!
My family and I want to wish all of you—our friends and family—a most Blessed Christmas and the happiest of new years!
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