Thinking Out LoudEvery year, Christmas is accompanied by the pressure to celebrate. Christmas is a time of joy. Joy requires work. Plans to make, things to buy. We put on our best faces, and we put our trials aside. We have to, in order to be happy.
But what about people with continuous suffering? How is a person with chronic respiratory issues, or depression, or experiencing domestic violence, supposed to look forward to feasting and merriment?
Suffering seems a fair rebuttal to the assumption that Christmas is a time of joy. But it isn’t. The first Christmas was short on joy and heavy with fear. A young maiden with an unimaginable role to play. A pious husband who plans to quietly divorce his beloved to protect her, then discovers he is responsible for protecting the most important life in history. An infant ferried from town to town to avoid slaughter by a jealous ruler. Death, and the threat of it, was everywhere in the night.
In the midst of the suffering, however, there was a light. A light shone in the darkness, and the darkness could not overcome it.
Christmas is not a story of mere joy, but of hope – that regardless of the insurmountable storms we face, we can make it through. How?
The widely verified mental health benefits of Christmas centre on people coming together. Connecting with each other is how we look after each other, and ourselves. When we celebrate Christmas, we remember – then practise – hope and generosity. Lives are saved one kindness at a time.
When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus responded that all of the law was bound up in two things – loving God and loving each other. When we do, a little bit of God shines through us.