When I was a kid, I always wondered about that verse in Ecclesiastes that says there's really nothing new on earth. Nothing new? Preposterous!
But now I'm old (according to my niece, but then she also told me in the same conversation I couldn't be married because I didn't look like a married woman should look...still puzzled on that one!) and I realize that history really and truly does have a way of repeating itself. If you need proof of that, just look at the world of fashion. (That's a semi-joke, by the way.)
Several months ago, a couple in our church took a sermon on the prophecies of Jesus and their fulfillment, and started writing them into readings, and slowly selecting songs to go with them. They had NO idea what was going to take place 2 days before this service was to be performed. One of the things I've always loved about the Christian faith and its Scriptures is that it doesn't gloss over the ugly of life and the consequences of sin. One of those prophecies, which the reading titled "Slaughter of the Innocent" dealt with Matthew 2:17:
But now I'm old (according to my niece, but then she also told me in the same conversation I couldn't be married because I didn't look like a married woman should look...still puzzled on that one!) and I realize that history really and truly does have a way of repeating itself. If you need proof of that, just look at the world of fashion. (That's a semi-joke, by the way.)
Several months ago, a couple in our church took a sermon on the prophecies of Jesus and their fulfillment, and started writing them into readings, and slowly selecting songs to go with them. They had NO idea what was going to take place 2 days before this service was to be performed. One of the things I've always loved about the Christian faith and its Scriptures is that it doesn't gloss over the ugly of life and the consequences of sin. One of those prophecies, which the reading titled "Slaughter of the Innocent" dealt with Matthew 2:17:
Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more."
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more."
That still gives me chills when I think about it. The horror of what Herod did, and unfortunately, history tells us that wasn't his only acts of insanity.
This holiday season I know so many who are hurting and grieving. No one expects to lose their vibrant young adult son who was only sick for three days. A missionary wife dodn't expect to come home on furlough and find herself dealing with everything on her own because her husband took his life. A wife who expected to be grieving her father this Christmas but instead is grieving the loss of her husband, a young girl in her early 30s suddenly planning a funeral for her Dad instead of Christmas dinner, not to mention a nation thinking about 20 sets of parents doing the same for their children, and a score of siblings who would like nothing more for Christmas than to argue/play/sit with their brother or sister one more time.
And yet, what better time to be reminded of such sorrow than during Christmas. His name shall be called "Emmanuel, meaning God with us."
God with us. Not watching us suffer, ignoring our pain, pretending it doesn't exist. WITH us. Abiding with us, in us, through us, among us, one of us...going through our very pain with us every step of the way.
That's not a "happy holidays" sentiment. But it's a candle lit in the darkness sentiment. A flicker of light, of hope, giving a spark of warmth on a cold and dark night. And that's enough to make me smile and say "Merry Christmas" when inside I may not feel anything at all.
He is with me.
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