Preparing for the Holidays
Holiday season is officially upon us. As I write this article, home cooks are dusting off their Thanksgiving recipes, providing those well-worn pages with their annual dose of sunlight. Christmas decorations—and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You”—fill every store I enter. Holiday-themed ads play during football games, soliciting way more emotion than a 30-second advertisement should. Love it or hate it, holiday season has arrived.
I personally love it. Many of you do too. For us, the holiday season represents family, traditions, and happy childhood memories (in addition to the powerful, gospel-centered celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas). Due to these warm connotations, the holidays are a wonderful time that we are awaiting with eagerness and anticipation.
But that isn’t true for everybody. For some people, the holiday season reinforces their feeling of loneliness. It brings up fresh feelings of sorrow, as they remember loved ones they have lost. The consumer-driven nature of the holidays places expectations on people to buy and spend, which can leave some families feeling anxious about their bank accounts or guilty about their inability to give nice gifts to their children. For some children, the holidays represent a break from school—which means more time at a home that isn’t safe, with a family they can’t stand. In short, there are people in our community—even people in our church—who are not looking forward to the holidays.
That’s where the body of Christ needs to step in. If you are staying in town for Thanksgiving or Christmas, consider inviting additional church members to join your festivities—particularly church members who are going to be alone on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Consider providing gifts to families in need through Angel Tree. Rather than assuming the people around you are excited for the holidays, go out of your way to give them a reason to celebrate.
We serve a God who met us where we were—in our sin, our shame, our brokenness. Let’s be a church that follows Christ’s lead, meeting people where they are, and encouraging them with the hope of the gospel—in word and deed. May Christ be magnified in us this holiday season.
In Christ,
Britton