Last week I said “…. but we’re not quite there yet …. ” and now we are! Winter Solstice is upon us and I look forward to snuggling down, gratefully, to the year’s longest night, which here in Oregon promises to be very, very cold (temperatures in the mid-teens) with Portland area shelters doing their best to get houseless people sheltered.
Then, on its heels and right as Hanukkah draws to a close, comes Christmas … a sturdy holiday, according to Kendyl Gibbons, a Unitarian minister from Kansas. I couldn’t agree more. She speaks my thoughts with such eloquence, I’ll just let her say it all. Thank you, Kendyl!
Christmas Is Subversive
One of the great things about Christmas is that it is a sturdy holiday. Christmas doesn’t wimp out when times are hard – it comes anyway, even if there are hardly any presents, even when there isn’t much food to make a feast with, even if you’re sad, even if the world around you is at war, even if you are living in fear and danger and oppression, Christmas still comes.
And when it comes, Christmas is subversive. Christmas, with its story of an unwed mother and a doubtful father; with its legend of a helpless baby, born in a stable, who was worshipped by some of the wisest, richest men in the world; with its tale of the child pursued by the deadly wrath of kings, who escaped as a refugee to a foreign land far from home.
Christmas, with its ancient, enduring summons of peace on earth, good will to all people, everywhere. You can’t stop a day like that with a little hardship, or greed, or injustice. It will show up anyway, shining the light of a midnight star into the darkest places of our collective lives.
Do not underestimate the power of the manger, and the hope it holds. The Christmas song of the angels is not as innocent as it sounds. It has turned the world upside down before now. It still can.
We may not be together in person this week, but as we welcome the slow but steady Return of the Light and the rebirth of Hope, I invite you to spend a bit of the season’s precious time by clicking on three of my very favorite links. Holiday Blessings on Us All … Every One, Every Where. Always.
With Love & In the Spirit of Peace,
Sulima
I had not heard “Don’t Let The Light Go Out”
in years! Thanks so much! 🎄Merry Christmas
One of your best offerings. Thanks