This is the season of the “good news of great joy” in the church. We talk a lot about the good news for us. The good news that we get to live in. We talk about the good news of great joy for all people, announced in the words of the angels: “a child is born to you, in the town of Bethlehem, he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11) It’s great news.
We really like good news, but I find we’re less good at the “to all people.” This Christmas season I’ve been wondering about whether or not this good news really is for us.
We really like good news, but I find we’re less good at the “to all people.”
Maybe it’s the individualistic, consumeristic society we live in. Or maybe it’s just human nature. Whatever it is, I know I often spend more time thinking about myself than about other people. I like good news for me. I like good news for my family, and for my people, but “for all people” gets harder. Especially at Christmas.
We tend to celebrate Christmas with our families. And that makes sense. Of course we want to share the holiday spirit with the people nearest and dearest to us. Of course we want to observe the traditions we’ve created together again and again. There is so much nostalgia and love in those moments.
But I don’t get to spend Christmas with my family. I’m a pastor. I spend Christmas with my church family. And my other family, the one that shares my last name and my genetic markers, does Christmas without me. It’s part of the life I signed up for, and I am mostly okay with it. But it is hard to celebrate Christmas with other people’s families. I’ve tried. And here’s challenge: while they are always kind and welcoming, they’ve been doing it the same way for so long. Sometimes I feel like a spectator. It feels like the good news is celebrated for them, by them. And it’s hard to be the outsider.
One Christmas a few years ago I was invited to a different kind of Christmas dinner.
One Christmas a few years ago I was invited to a different kind of Christmas dinner. The host couple had intentionally invited everyone they knew who wasn’t spending Christmas with family. There was a divorced dad whose kids were with their mom, a young single recent immigrant, another person whose family was celebrating without him in his home country. And me. We all came to the table with our own issues and worries and concerns. And we were all wishing we were somewhere else.
Before dinner the host stood up and said: “Life hasn’t always been easy for this family. And we’ve had long periods of separation, and we know how hard that is. We know what it is to celebrate Christmas in loneliness, fear, and sorrow. You are welcome here to this table. In whatever state you are.”
It was the best Christmas dinner I think I’ve ever had. Because the good news was for me.
Christmas, it turns out, reminds us that we have good news to share with all people. Christmas is an opportunity to get out of our own heads, and our own tribes, and start thinking bigger. To start thinking about all people. I do hope that you enjoy your turkey and your family, I’m not advocating for the abolishment of family Christmas dinner. I just hope it’s not where Christmas ends for us.
Christmas is an opportunity to get out of our own heads, out of our own tribes, and start thinking bigger.
In Isaiah 61 the anointed one proclaims a vision of the good news to the oppressed. That’s not most of us. We live in wealthy countries. Most of you reading this are middle class, I imagine. Maybe not millionaires, but you get by okay. We have food and a roof over our heads. We have freedom. I don't know about you, but I'm not oppressed.
The anointed one proclaims a vision of the good news to the broken-hearted. That’s also not me, or perhaps you. Sure, we’re all broken-hearted in our own special ways, but Isaiah is taking about the kind of broken-hearted that you become when you are torn from your land, when the temple that is God’s very dwelling has been torn down. That’s a whole different level of broken-hearted.
Isaiah proclaims the good news of release to the captives. Again, I don’t know about you, but that’s not me.
The good news is so good. But it was never meant to stop with us.
The good news is so good. It’s for us, and that’s a beautiful truth we celebrate at Christmas. But it was never meant to stop with us. Christ ushered in the kingdom of God, a kingdom of love, hope, joy, peace, and justice. This is the kingdom we celebrate and anticipate at Christmas. It’s the kingdom we proclaim to the world. And that truly is good news.
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