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I am aware that many of you who call Dial Hope and read these messages during this holiday season are grieving over the loss of a loved one. The sights and sounds of Christmas make this a season to be jolly and joyful. But if something isn't right in your life, the holidays can be the most painful time of the year. If you're out of work, if there's alienation, grief, illness, loss of any kind, then you know all about pain at the holidays.
The late Dietrich Bonhoeffer shares this wisdom in dealing with pain and loss, "When a loved one dies, God comforts us enough to sustain us, but God leaves enough of the void and enough of the loneliness to help us anticipate the reunion." In other words, God doesn't magically take pain away. The pain is really a mark of love. If we didn't love the person and if we didn't miss them, there would be no Christmas pain. God doesn't take that away from us. It's in the midst of the pain that we learn what it really means to trust God. Jesus said, "I am with you always." (Matthew 28:20).
Let us pray: Loving God, we thank you for the miracle of Bethlehem, the babe born in violence. We wait for your coming in Jesus the Christ, in whom all things are made new. We pause to thank you for the lives and love of those who have died and who now live with you, and also continue to live within us. Be especially with those who are in pain, those who are hurting. Be with the men and women who are serving our country in the armed forces. This season, save us from a saccharine, sanctomonius, social celebration of what should be a life changing spiritual awakening. Help us to believe in beginnings... so that we may not just grow old, but grow new each day of this wild, amazing life. Through the amazing grace of Jesus Christ. Amen. |
