That Time of Year

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you.

By now, you should know that our family is a Disney family, and one of the Disney sets of films that happens to be on more often than others is Frozen. Not just the two movies but also all those shorts that they have released over the years. One of those shorts is called “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure”. In the short Olaf travels around all of Arendale trying to find to find a Christmas tradition for Anna and Elsa. He quickly discovers the joy of Christmas in the different traditions that people use to celebrate that time of year and he breaks out into a joyful song about it. The song is called “That Time of Year” and you should check it out on YouTube if you want to hear what I am talking about. Or better yet watch the show. It’s about as long as a 30 minute show on television. But I digress...

Everyone in the town is more than happy to share with Olaf all their Christmas traditions no matter how big or small, meaningful or different they may seem. It ranges from baking to decorating, getting presents to spending time with family to usher in that time of year.

The whole song is a reflection of this actual time of year that we celebrate as Christians. We bake and decorate and buy gifts for one another all in the joyful anticipation of the coming of Jesus. We spread that joy to family and friends as we welcome the light of the world into our lives and into this entire world. It truly is a joyful time of year that we all look forward to as one of the most meaningful holy days as Christians.

Unfortunately as the show goes on there are some mishaps and tragedy that change the mood from that joyful song to a very sad and lonely time for Olaf as he sees all the Christmas traditions he has been gathering disappear and unable to be brought back to Anna and Elsa in the castle.

Let’s be honest again, there is no doubt that happens in our lives too. Christmas can be difficult because we miss loved ones we have lost and are unable to spend Christmas with them. Some of us have even lost loved ones during these holy days making the loss even harder. Some do not have jobs or a steady stream of income. And let’s not forget that the whole reason you are watching me at home recorded in this way is because we are living in a global pandemic with numbers rising quickly in our own county.

All of this was happening to Mary and Joseph too. Now this was about to be the first Christmas ever, and I am sure there was joy in the moment of the birth, but as I put in my Christmas letter there must have been a whole lot of fear and uncertainty happening too. Giving birth to your firstborn son away from your home town during a forced census. In a stable. I think if nothing else, life and the lives of people in the Bible have taught us is that life doesn’t always go the way we want it to go.

Yet look at what God does. Despite there being no room they do have somewhere to stay out of the cold and she does have a place to lay her baby boy that she gives birth to that night. God then sends Angels to the lowly shepherds so that they can both see what God has done and is doing in the world, but also to maybe help Mary understand and reinforce that what was said through Gabriel when she conceived Jesus was true. That God would be with this child, Emmanuel. That the world would be changed through this child and that people would never forget this night for generations to come, and on in to eternity.

It is through that joy and that uncertainty that we come to celebrate, as Olaf puts it, ‘that time of year’. And we always look forward to ‘that time of year’. We also wonder why this time of year has to be so short. After all, the Magi come on January 6th and we begin a new season of the church year. Tonight, tomorrow, December 27th and January 3rd are the only days that we celebrate this holiest of seasons. And I think that even more than just the actual shortness of this holy season is what I hear so often, is why can’t the ‘Spirit of Christmas’ the meaningfulness of this holy time last longer? Why can’t it last all year?

To that I say, ‘why not?’. The night Mary gives birth to Jesus. The night the angels sing God’s praise for the light of the world entering into our lives. The journey of the shepherds to come and see this miracle of God. The joy it brings. The happiness it brings. The goodness and love that it causes to pour out of us. The grace that we extend to others. The kindness we share to people who are less fortunate than us at this time of year. Why not keep it all year long? Why not keep the love and joy of Christmas all year? Who says it has to stop? Who says that loving our neighbor and being extra kind to others should be reserved for the Advent and Christmas season?

Let’s make ‘that time of year,’ all year. Let’s make the joy and love of Christmas and the in-breaking of God into the world something that pours out of our lives and overflows out into the world so that everyone can be in the kind of awe the shepherds were when they saw and heard the angels speak and sing.

May God fill you with the awe of the shepherds, the jubilation of the angels, and the peace of Mary knowing that God is with us and that promise was made real and tangible this night and extends from then until all eternity. May they fill you this night, may they fill you ‘this time of year’, this whole year and your whole life long so that you may never forget that Christ born this night is the greatest gift God has ever made for this world and we should celebrate and live it out in our daily lives.

Merry Christmas and God bless each of you. Amen.