God breaks the darkness

I?m not in the mood. Christmas Eve is just about here and I?m not in the mood. I have not baked one Christmas item, I have not purchased Christmas cards, and our house seems as dark as Scrooge?s. I?m not in the mood. Oh, I enjoy looking at the lighted trees in the windows of homes I drive by. The twinkling lights that break the blanket of darkness make me smile. I find myself marveling at the care and detail people take when they decorate their homes for Christmas. However my own decorations, even our treasured porcelain nativity scene, remain safely boxed in the basement. I?m not in the mood. You see I can?t seem to get motivated and excited about all the frills that go with Christmas because my Mom is dying. My Mom, Clara, was diagnosed with lung cancer in July (yes, she smoked like a chimney). By the end of September she had enough of chemo and radiation and said ?no more.? She is now in the loving care of Hospice. This is to be the season of celebration, joy, parties, and merriment and instead my mind wanders to Florida where my Mom journeys through a new stage of her life. I?m not in the mood.

Isn?t that what Christmas is all about? God coming into a world that knows sadness, knows pain, knows suffering? God does not wait until we are ready to receive Him, God does not wait until we are in the mood. God loves each and every one of us so deeply and intimately that God chooses to break into our darkness and dwell with us. Christmas we celebrate that God is born to a world that isn?t ready to receive Him, yet He comes. God breaks the darkness with the cries of a newborn boy in a quiet, musky barn (because Bethlehem wasn?t ready to receive the world?s King). God breaks the darkness of a world with God?s Son, Jesus the Messiah born to and for the world. The wooden manger cradles the infant Messiah, God born to humans, who will on the wooden cross bear the world?s sadness, pain, and suffering.

Yes, my Mom is dying. Yes, my house is undecorated. Yes, Christmas will still come! Our God says, ?Ready or not, here I come because I love you.? As we celebrate the birthday of Jesus know, regardless of your mood, God is ALWAYS with you. God is born to us, dwells with us, and breaks our darkness with Jesus? love, forgiveness, peace, and hope.

God receives all of us just as we are. Join us at Immanuel Lutheran Church (1226 E. Washington in Washington) as we celebrate God entering into our busy, hectic lives. Sunday worship in December is at 9 a.m. and Christmas Eve candlelight and Holy Communion services are 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. All people are welcome and invited as we gather all generations around the Word of Christ to experience God?s norm of love and grace. Merry Christmas!