Signs of Jesus

We have been walking together through Advent looking for signs of the season. We began with looking for signs of hope and saw them in the first signs that often signal Christmas is coming – Christmas trees, nativities, Advent candles. These are signs of hope because they point to a better time that is coming. Despite the dumpster fire of our lives, the Christ Child is coming to bring gifts that sustain us through the flames, the smoke, and the smoldering ash.

We looked and listened for signs of peace – signs of baptism and forgiveness – that settle our restless hearts, calm our fearful hearts, and release the guilt or anxiety that often arises within us. We heard these signs through silence, conversations with family and friends, and even in the ra pa pa rum of Christmas music.

We looked for signs of joy, which meant we often tasted joy, in the special foods and flavors that only come out at Christmas time: The egg nog, the monkey bread, and peppermint treats. These foods and flavors are shared over meals together with family and friends who are family, and they were no less holy than gathering around the communion table.

We looked for signs of love and how we can fully embrace the Christ child just as he was embraced in Mary’s arms and Simeon’s arms when Jesus was presented at the Temple. Our search for these signs continues into the new year. Looking for love around us is not only found during Advent or Christmas, but it makes this season sweeter when we do find it. Often, our lives get more chaotic and stressful that it is hard to experience these signs of the season.

Within the tangled mess of our lives, there is hope, peace, joy, and love coming to us on Christmas. When we open our hearts to receive these gifts that only the Christ Child can bring, then we have arrived at Christmas. We hold on to hope that our lives and our world won’t always be a dumpster fire. We cling to words of peace when it would be so easy to cut someone down with angered words. We intentionally release our sadness and pain to make room for joy that is waiting for us. We love period. We love like people who haven’t been hurt, who aren’t bitter or resentful, who aren’t skeptical. We love because this IS what the Christ child is. A big bundle of love.

God joined us in our humanity out of love. God continues to join us in our lives out of love. Even when we aren’t ready to receive it, even when we flat out reject it, God is waiting in the wings until we are ready, because of love. This love never gives up on us. This love is not pushy. Sometimes we need to learn how bad we need it. This love is not condemning. Sometimes we have to learn the condemnation actually comes from us, not God. This love may seem subtle. Sometimes it takes time to grow. It often takes our whole lives to truly grow into the kind of love that was born this night.

The true sign of the season is Jesus. This season is all about Jesus and how he is immersed in every detail, every song, every decoration, every dessert, every gathering. Even the gatherings that include cross words or disagreements, Jesus is there, eager to bring healing, to the pain that caused them. Jesus is there amidst the difficult conversations…that’s why they are often called “coming to Jesus moments.”

Let us have a “coming to Jesus moment” this Christmas, where we realize and recognize that Jesus has been with us through the whole season. We may have not seen him or felt him, but Jesus has been there the whole time. Jesus is here, right now, just waiting for us to open our hearts to receive all that Jesus brings.
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Just like the hope he brought to the world on the first Christmas, he continues to bring hope to hopeless situations. Just like on the first Christmas, he continues to bring moments of peace when the world is still and we are in sync with God. Just like on the first Christmas, joy breaks out in a baby’s cry and the world was never the same. Just like on the first Christmas, love could not be contained. It could not be neat and tidy and arrive on schedule. It came at the worst possible time into a messy world because that is exactly what they needed then, and what we need now.

We need a God who meets us in our caves with smelly animals and gives us a love that cannot be found anywhere else. This love has arrived. This love is here for all of us. Let it be born within us and may our lives be forever changed.