Traveling during the holidays is chaotic. Extreme weather, clogged roadways, and overbooked hotels. It is enough to make you frustrated, mad and even a bit cynical. I know over the next few weeks the challenges of seeing family and finding a deal on the quota of necessary presents will take much of our attention.
It must have been similar for the first family of Christmas. Travel necessitated not from want to see family but requirement from an oppressive government that they register for a census. Carrying a baby near the end of a full term and so many travelling the same roads. No vacancy anywhere in their hometown, not even with family? Only place available was a stable homeless would ask to use. Can’t you just you feel the frustration, the option for anger and the potential for cynicism?
But, a light breaks through. A star lights the way to a baby in a crude shelter in a makeshift bed. God comes near. You may feel abandoned. You be angry with those who dehumanize you. You might find yourself leaning toward being cynical with God’s unfulfilled promises. But, in the midst of rejection, frustration and disillusionment, God is near. He comes into our world, your world, with all the hazards, pains and loses. He is here to be the company you need. He is here is to restore humanity, especially yours. He is here to bring light to a dark and lonely place. This Christmas Season, be reminded that God is near in Jesus.
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
Matthew 1:23 New Living Translation (NLT)
Rev. Troy Dean
Campus Pastor