What’s your favorite holiday tradition?
Driving around and looking at Christmas lights? Going caroling in your neighborhood? Moving the Elf on the Shelf every night? Midnight Mass or Candlelight Christmas Eve service? Binge watching Christmas movies while wrapping presents late into the night?
One of the things that my family does every single year for as long as I can remember is participate in something we call The Light of the World Ceremony. This always takes place some night close to Christmas where the whole extended family gathers at my parents’ home. We always eat, drink, catch up and laugh, but at some point we all grab candles and make our way to the living room and turn out all the lights in the house except for a fire in the fireplace. These days there’s a fair amount of chaos because of the young grandkids, but its always warm and cozy and we make it work. Finally, when everyone settles down, my dad will launch into his (often waaaaay too long) rendition of the Christmas story, when Jesus, the Light of the World, was born.
When he’s finished, we let one of the youngest children there lead us all on a search throughout the home and grounds for a manger than my dad has hidden. While we are looking, we all sing O Come O Come Emmanuel… which mostly consists of us all vigorously singing the first verse and then mumbling through the next 3 or 4 that we never remember all the words to. Then when we finally find the baby in the manger, illuminated by a single candle, we all light our candles from that one light, and together sing Joy to the World.
Whenever I think about those experiences, it’s always a warm, wonderful memory. It’s been this fixture in my life around Christmas for around 35 years, and even though its a hassle to schedule and a little bit extra, and sometimes the kids meltdown in the middle of it… it’s completely worth it.
The reason why it’s worth it, is because in the midst of a world and life that is always changing and swirling and shifting and moving, there is something about participating in traditions and rituals that brings security and stability unlike anything else.
It’s alarming when you realize that you can never experience the same Christmas twice. Each year your family and friends are not the same age as the previous year, there are new styles and trends, there are new jobs and relationships, sometimes new places and new priorities. But in the midst of all that change, traditions tether us and rituals root us into a deeper rhythm of life and being.
But what do you do when these tethers break?
What do you do when the seemingly immovable objects that these experiences are rooted in, are removed?
A marriage dissolves after many years.
A loved one passes and is no longer present at the dinner table.
An illness brings about a new painful reality to your body.
This can produce a type of pain and confusion that many of us are unprepared for. I read these words this week:
After her parents divorced and were forced to sell her childhood home, my wife felt untethered in the world. It was as if she had lost a part of herself. At the same time, we were busy raising our own kids. I don’t think it hit her until around Christmas when she realized that the place she was born was no longer a place she could return to.
Christmas is a time of tradition, and these traditions keep us tethered and maintain our sense of certainty and security, but what do you do when the tethers break? Is there a way to recover from these experiences or avoid them altogether besides becoming Ebenezer Scrooge?
For me, this is why spirituality is so important. Life is like an endless ocean, full of currents and streams, seasons and storms, waves and winds, constantly shifting, swirling, and changing… but spirituality tells us that underneath all of this motion and undulation is something that doesn’t change. The Bible goes even further and tells us that the Divine isn’t just unchanging, but also the source of everything good and perfect.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17
On Christmas, we celebrate the most excellent gift that we could have ever received. So many years ago, a unique child was born to a middle Eastern mother in Bethlehem. He was the Light of the World, sent as a good and perfect gift from the “Father of lights” above. Jesus was given to the world in order to provide hope and security to us in the midst of a reality that grips us with fear. The angels declared to the shepherds:
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11
This good news, is that someone has come near to us who is from the “other side” from the “unshakeable kingdom”. This person is Immanuel, or God WITH us and the Hope that He brings provides us “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19).
During this season, this is a time to ask the deeper questions, like “What is my hope?”What is it that truly anchors you and provides you the sense of security and stability that all of us need to thrive?
-Jesse