Christmas 2020 is turning out to be a Christmas like no other. I’m probably not alone in having some mixed feelings about Christmas this year. On one hand, Christmas is the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and the miracle of Jesus coming to be with us. Like we’re reminded about in John 1:14, “the Word became flesh and lived among us,” and that is real reason for joy! We should celebrate this Christmas season, and what it means to so many–love, peace, kindness, and the fruit of the Spirit.
For many though, this Christmas is a tough one with everything that has happened over the past year. Families, health, churches, marriages, jobs, businesses, etc. have been shaken up in a major way, and sometimes there seems like so little light at the end of the tunnel. To add to this, we’re being told not to visit loved ones this year, which is something we took for granted in past Christmases.
There is without a doubt a lot to celebrate this Christmas season. There is also, without a doubt, a lot to mourn. But I think we can learn something truly powerful about Christmas this year when we put these two things together. It’s during the times when we mourn, and during great times of loss, that we remember that Jesus is Immanuel. Immanuel means “God is with us.” It is during the hardest times and the darkest moments in life that we need to remember that God is truly with us.
So this year, take some time to pray and thank God that He is truly Immanuel, God with us. May it be known this year more than ever that nothing can separate us from God–“not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers or height or depth, or any other thing that is created” (Romans 8:38-39). And that’s a real reason to celebrate!