A Thrill of Hope

The week of Christmas – are you excited? Struggling?

The activities, expectations, shopping, and traditions, although fun, often bring us to the point of physical and mental exhaustion.  For many of us the year has been difficult, leaving us emotionally depleted and the season without luster. Whatever the circumstances, here we are days before Christmas … weary.

Into the midst of our hurriedness, grief, or pain wafts a familiar carol:

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn*

Hope is what we all need – that help will come or that we will have strength to go on, that we will make the difficult choice to deal with an addiction or that the pain will lessen. We yearn for a new and glorious morn – that which comes through Jesus, the One whose name means “the Lord saves.” He invites us once again this Christmas to draw close and see Him with fresh or maybe new eyes because …

            He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger*

He knows because He came into the world the same way every other person does – as a baby – and grew up experiencing all that humans experience.  Sometimes we rush to glamorize the beginning of His story, but this year, let’s remove the charm for a moment to see the stable, a young couple, and a babe.  Filth. Weariness. Weakness. Dependence.  

When we imagine the scene as it was, then the greatness of this birth can shine through. Along with an amazing angel proclamation to Mary in Luke 1 and the strange happenings which brought her with Joseph to such an unfavorable location, the story in Luke’s gospel includes the detail that the babe was wrapped in cloths.  Why so specific? The shepherds were first on the scene and they understood immediately.  Indeed, “this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12 NIV). These same cloths were used to wrap the firstborn sheep of a flock to protect them from harm or blemish. They would be kept apart for sacrifice at the Temple. Only perfect lambs were acceptable to God as payment for the sins of the people.  As the shepherds gazed upon the face of Jesus, they saw what the angels declared to them in the field – this was the Savior of the world, Christ the Lord!

In the worst conditions, at the weakest stage of life lay God in the flesh who came to bring a new and glorious morn –

            Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!*

The shepherds did and they went home “glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:20a).

Pause in the midst of the celebration, chaos, grief, or pain this Christmas to spend time at the manger with the shepherds and see Jesus who is our Hope and our Savior.

*O Holy Night, Text by John S. Dwight

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