The other day I picked up one of the kids from a sports practice and learned their final workout before the break was titled “12 Days of Christmas or 12 Days of Pain.” Following the structure of the Christmas Carol “12 Days of Christmas” they worked up incrementally to add one more rep with each exercise. If that wasn’t bad enough they had to do the “12 Days of Pain” workout three times within the hour workout. I’m not sure how I would have fared with this workout. Like many of you, I’m tired, and quite possibly need a different kind of workout called “12 Days of Rest.” We all need some rest these days. I’ve appreciated the Advent time of waiting and interplay of darkness and light. The Advent Evening Prayer series this year has been restful for my soul. What caught my eye with the coach’s title “12 Days of Pain”is how apt it sounds for many of us for whom Christmas is especially hard. At our third and final Advent Evening prayer a young adult approached me afterward and was comforted to be with others over a meal and uplifting prayer gathering. We also had an older man, a widower, join us as well who came for similar reasons, wanting to be around other people. He was pleased it was a multi-generational gathering that there were kids, students, adults, and elders alike. Something that I am noting working with students and elders alike is that Christmas isn’t necessarily an easy time. People can be working through trauma and loss at any age. For some people, biological families aren’t a safe place or source of emotional support. For others, a partner may have died or needing extensive care, making this day challenging. All the more important as a congregation that we offer other opportunities for social and spiritual support.
Sometimes death and life go together. We have a loved one die and a baby born in the family around the same time. God is not anxious about getting close to us in all the messiness of life. It is also natural for us to think about people who are missing around the table this time of the year.
I also think of a friend and colleague Pr. Sarah Dymund, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Regina who celebrated together for the last time last night on Christmas Eve. The congregation made the difficult decision to close after a long time of discernment. Pr. Sarah said in an interview with CBC, "Honestly, that is the cycle of life, right? We're celebrating the birth of Jesus as we're also celebrating the end of our ministry.” We lift up Pr. Sarah and Trinity in prayer. Perhaps you have friends or family in Regina or at congregations who have made similar decisions. Christmas is a time when we often think about the cycle of life – the pull between Christmas and Easter.
In John 1, our gospel reading today, we hear the famous verse: “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” God knows about life and death. God is not judging from afar. God becomes human out of empathy and love. God has empathy that we’re struggling with getting celebrations together when we’re tired, when we need a break. God has empathy for others who have lives that are too quiet, where they could use a bit more busyness around them. God has empathy with people who exclude themselves from community at times. We’ve likely all experienced this at times and the pandemic didn’t help. When we feel isolated we are often more likely to isolate ourselves further. And so we continue to invite people into community, to visit people, to bring them a poinsettia and a note that reminds them they are loved. They are remembered. They are loved by God. We all need this reminder.
So many of our Christmas carols remind us of God’s love at Christmas. I think of one the verses from “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” that we’ll sing this morning:
Flocks were sleeping, shepherds keeping
vigil till the morning new;
saw the glory, heard the story –
tidings of a gospel true.
Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow,
praises voicing, greet the morrow:
Christ the babe was born for you;
Christ the babe was born for you!
The carol reminds us that the birth of Christ is good news “for you” – good news for each of us. The same God is with us in the scene at the manger. This birth in an unexpected place, amidst shepherds, in a humble place, is for us. And it’s good news that is part of a story of salvation with an arc that stretches from Christmas to Easter.
Thinking about the “Twelve Days of Christmas or Twelve Days of Pain” workout, God’s desire for us is Twelve Days of Rest. And while we may need to tend to various things that cannot be rescheduled, Creator desires for you to be grounded in the beauty of the Christmas season whatever that looks like for you. Receive the joy to the world in the midst of whatever you are carrying with you this Christmas. Know that “Christ the babe was born for you.” Amen.
