ready or not

Ready or not, here I come!! Words from our favorite game of hide and seek.  And true now as Christmas approaches.  IT's coming whether we are ready or not.  How are you making yourself ready for the holiday?  It's easy to get swept up into the commercialism side of Christmas...my boys have been telling me what they want for Christmas since Halloween (it seems).  And I've been annoyed to be honest.  I wish they didn't assume Christmas meant they could ask for the most expensive and longed for thing that they've laid eyes on since last Christmas.  I wish they were into the deeper meaning of the holiday...reflecting on the birth of Jesus, and what an amazing gift this little baby was to all of us.  BUT...they ARE CHILDREN!  So Lord, have mercy.  I will be buying my boys presents...
But seriously, we all have associations with Christmas that are not all "spiritual".  And I think that's okay.  It's a time of gathering with friends and/or family to share warmth, listen to Christmas songs, put up the tree and be enamored by the lights, drink hot mulled cider or hot chocolate, and do nice things for others.  These are good things.  These are even holy things.  I don't really like to separate what is "spiritual" and what is not.  I think it is all sacred and wonderful as we lean into each other, lean into God, lean into the empty spaces that we feel the rest of the year.  We long for community, deeper relationships, closeness.  And this is the time of the year that we feel freer to exhibit these emotions of delight, laughter, joy, even a childlikeness as we touch the ornaments and remember years past when we put these same ornaments up on our trees.  Christmas brings back memories.   Memories of childhood.  Memories of the birth of our first child.
I am not ignorant to believe that all the memories are good, or that all of you reading this have good associations with Christmas.  Perhaps some of you have closed your heart because Christmas carries with it bad memories.  Or maybe you felt disappointment with it as a child when the presents you wanted were never under the tree.  Maybe you don't see any reason to get joyous this Christmas season.  That's ok.
But that is where the simplicity of the first "Christmas" (I realize it wasn't really called Christmas y'all...) causes me to pause in awe.  A woman carrying a child that she had not been dreaming about before she got news that she was pregnant (she was just planning to get married!)...a woman who really wasn't "special" by any earthly means.  A woman who was not known by many.  In fact, when she and her husband came to Bethlehem on a donkey, no one was laying out the red carpet to welcome her in.  Nope.  She was told "sorry, there's no room here.  Move on." and probably she heard lots of annoyed sighs, mumbled phrases behind her back, or even doors closed.  She and her husband were nothing special.  They kept moving along, even with a very swollen belly that made moving along a slow laborious task.  But they knew they needed to find somewhere to lay their heads and welcome this little child into the not very welcoming world.  A world that needed hope.  A world that was in need of love.  A world full of fear.  And so they kept searching for a place that would be their place to give birth and life.  And finally, someone said "Yes, I have a small simple place for you.  IT's nothing much, but you can use it..."  And with no other choice, this simple woman and man entered into a humble place to give birth to a little child who was coming to bring hope and light to a world full of despair and darkness.
Does our world not feel similar even now?  In light of all the hatred and fear that we hear rumblings of on the news.  Does it not feel that we, too, are longing for hope and light and healing?  Are we not quite similar to the condition of the world then, when a little child was born?  And so I look around and wonder how I might make room for life and love and hope to spring up in my home.  Can I make room for people to gather around our table?  Is there room here for a little one to show us the way to heal and have hope?  Yes, Lord Jesus, we welcome you here.  We need one who can help us.  There is so much fear and hatred and hurt and pain in the world we live in.  Sometimes it feels like we have no way forward.  Sometimes it feels like there's nothing that will change it.  But we make room for you. We make room for hope, and light, and the birth of a little baby who came to show us another way.  Come, Emmanuel, come.