Chapter 6
The Call of Christmas
We all have traditions wrapped around the Christmas season. For some of us, the holiday brings memories of peppermint and twinkling lights and family faces we see all too seldom. But for others, the lights and the smells and the sounds bring up the hurt of broken childhoods, damaged relationships, or the bits of life that grind our souls into a fine powder.
In the middle of all the tradition, the emotions, or the routine, it’s easy to let the story of Jesus’s birth melt like a marshmallow in hot chocolate into the rest of the hubbub. Luke’s version of Jesus’s arrival can feel all too familiar, and in that familiarity we can lose sight of what Luke was trying to say all along.
That first Christmas so long ago, men and women woke up to what they thought was a normal day. And it turned out to be anything but normal. They were swept up into the whirlwind of ancient promises coming to life. Promises that reversed the fortunes of the destitute, brought hope to the hopeless, and peace to a world screaming for the blood of enemies. In the end, what mattered wasn’t that they became a part of the story, but what they did with their small role. Zechariah doubted but couldn’t grasp the gravity of his own son’s role and eventually understood that trust is better even when it feels blind. Elizabeth chose to use her blessed part in the story to bless others. Mary accepted a difficult role and modeled faithful obedience to everyone around her. The shepherds chose to put their livelihoods at risk in order to announce the coming of God’s promised peacemaker. And the elderly Simeon and Anna waited to simply meet the one who would change everything.
That’s the call of Christmas. Something happened long ago, but the ripples of Jesus’s story—his life and death and resurrection—still splash against the shore of the here–and–now. Those ripples touch on each of our lives whether we want them to or not. Whether Christmas brings joy or pain, we cannot escape the tug of the wind pulling us into Jesus’s story. The question is simple: Will you let yourself get pulled in? To become part of his story?
What will you do with the promised one?
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