Looking out the window from my desk I’m watching a squirrel preparing her nest for the winter. For her the rhythm of life continues as usual. For us, however, the rhythm is irregular and scary. As I write, the Internet news is all about the second wave of Covid and the distressing awareness that Christmas will be unlike any others in history. We’re being advised to stay at home and celebrate via Zoom and FaceTime.
The popular song ,”It’s the most wonderful time of the year” rings hollow.
So it’ll be a truncated Christmas day socially, but it needn’t be spiritually. This will be a time to revisit the meaning and the beauty of “God became flesh and dwelt among us…”. Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, in a stable no less(!), an angelic chorus singing his birth to humble shepherds, a visit from oriental wisemen…a profound message of “peace on earth”. What a powerful word to our disease and war stricken world.