Christmas Chaos

In Santaland Diaries, humorist David Sedaris describes what it was like to be an elf in New York at Macy’s Department Store during Christmas.  Here, he portrays a photo op with Santa that didn’t quite go as planned:

 “Tonight, I saw a woman slap and shake her crying child. She yelled: ‘Rachel, get on that man's lap and smile or I'll give you something to cry about.’ Then she sat Rachel on Santa's lap and I took the picture, which supposedly means on paper, that everything is exactly the way it's supposed to be - that everything is snowy and wonderful.”

Christmas cards often portray a world that’s perfectly ordered.   But, the reality is often the opposite.  Christmas reveals chaos:  family tensions, financial struggles, holiday stress, winter weather woes and delayed flights.

As our liturgies remind us, Christmas and chaos have always gone hand in hand.  The circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus were anything but what we would consider perfectly ordered.  God chose to be born anyway, into the chaos of what it means to be human.   On Sunday, we wrap up the liturgical season of Advent-Christmas-Epiphany. Our liturgies have assured us that Emmanuel, God, is with us.  That means that God continues to be with us in our chaos, not only at Christmastime, but all year long!

Now, it's our turn to assure others.  As writer and theologian Howard Thurman explains, it’s the gift that keeps on giving:

When the song of the angels is stilled
When the star in the sky is gone
When the kings and princes are home
When the shepherds are back with their flock
The real work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost
To heal the broken
To feed the hungry
To release the prisoner
To rebuild the nations
To bring peace among all
To make music in the heart
and, I might add, to comfort crying children who are afraid of Santa Claus.  Amen.