Ah--the Christmas letter--don't you love it? Nobody ever writes anything bad in those things. It's the opposite of regular news, on TV or in the paper, which is always bad. As every year, my long-suffering husband composes our family newsletter, because if it were up to me, folks would get their Christmas greetings in January, after the Christmas and end-of-the-year rush at church lets up. One year our daughter, embarrassed by his bragging about her, attempted to take over the job. Here's what she did: handed each of us a piece of paper and told us to write a paragraph. Viola--instant Christmas letter. Of course we only wrote good things about ourselves so it didn't come out all that different, albeit much shorter.
What if we wrote letters with all the bad stuff left in?
"Well, little Mary had a fun time in kindergarten, which is good, because she has to repeat it. She almost got the part of the third fairy in her ballet recital, but she kept forgetting her steps so they made her a tree.
Billy didn't make the Little League team but remedial classes kept him busy this summer anyway. Someone stole his bike, but he doesn't need it much anymore because he spends all his time playing violent video games.
Henry, our oldest, is in jail--something about grand theft, auto. We are hoping he can get a pass to visit on Christmas, but the warden has it in for him since he started that riot.
Joe lost his job, so we had to move to a smaller house in another part of town. We don't have a yard anymore, which is just as well because I hurt my back and couldn't really take care of a garden anyway. The street lights in our new neighborhood are all broken, so the Christmas lights showed up real well, until someone stole them.
Joe's mother moved in with us in September. It's a little crowded, but she's such a help with the children now that I have to work at the hazardous waste facility. The cat died and the dog has mange.
We hope you had a wonderful year, and if anyone needs a live-in babysitter, Joe's mother is available. Merry Christmas to all."
I hope your year was not like that but it probably wasn't all promotions and trophies either. Most of us were not bad enough to go to jail, or good enough to receive sainthood. Our lives are lived out somewhere in between the disaster of breaking news and the paradise of the typical Christmas letter. We are ordinary human beings with faults and virtues. Yet we are children of the living God, created by God and put here on this earth in this place and time to live out our roles as loved and loving people, blessed by God , to be a blessing to others. The God who gave us life knows us so well--God knows we need help. That's why God sent Jesus, our friend and brother, who was born into an ordinary family, not a perfect one; who understands our joys and our sorrows, and our everyday struggle to be the best we can be. In all the good and bad things that happen to us, we are never alone. Every day, year after year, Jesus goes with us on the way. Let us give thanks for the Christmas miracle--the presence of God born into the world as a baby in a stable--Jesus our savior, our friend , our brother.
Have a great Christmas and a blessed New Year,
Your pastor,
Jean Marsh