Once again, the Christmas season is upon us. We had another year of COVID 19 followed by federal vaccine mandates that threaten jobs, supply chain shortages, people leaving employment without new jobs, international unrest, crime waves in major cities, and a host of other issues. We are told that the the newest COVID 19 variant will be far worse than everything that has come before.
And yet...there is hope--much more hope than there was last year at this same moment. Last year when I wrote this post, I was discouraged because I had forgotten my own admonitions. Our hope is not a political party or a political leader or even in our fellow citizens. Our hope cannot be for more favorable elections or better laws. Whenever our hope is in any of those things, it is always misplaced. As Paul said in his epistle to Timothy (4:10) "our hope is in the living God who died for all and particularly for those who have accepted His salvation."
Here in Texas. there are beautiful light displays everywhere and families, now mostly unmasked, are gathering to enjoy the festivities Still, I cannot help but wonder how many of these families are out just to see something beautiful at the end of another long and tiresome year. Even most of those who grew up in church no longer apply Christianity to their lives in any meaningful way--they may talk to their children about the birth of baby Jesus on Christmas day, but they don't really apply His teachings to their lives. Christmas celebrations are really an interesting comment on a society that is surrounded by Christmas from before Thanksgiving until January 2 but that has forgotten the meaning behind the celebration.
The story of Christmas is not the story of a refugee family fleeing Palestine, nor is it the story of a struggling single mother. The Christmas story is the story of how God fulfilled His promise to save a fallen world by being born as a human, living among us, and dying on a cross. Without Easter, Christmas has no meaning and without Christmas, Easter has no victory.
As we look into 2022, rather than focusing on what laws are passed and what new COVID variants are waiting around the corner, we need to refocus on the One who came into a dark world that was completely without hope and brought light into that darkness. His power is eternal; it does not waiver in the face of illness or political wrangling.
Alexandra Swann is the author of No Regrets: How Homeschooling Earned me a Master's Degree at Age Sixteen and several other books. Her holiday series, Kinsman, is available in paperback and on Kindle. For more information, visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net.
