“Isn’t it wonderful, I’m going to jail!” – These the unlikely words of George Bailey on Christmas Eve. In the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” George discovers that even in the midst of dread and anxiety, life still has purpose. He has discovered that existence is better than non-existence. That to be born to a life of trials in his little town of Bedford Falls is better than to not have been born at all. Here on Christmas Eve 2020 we celebrate the one whose birth in Bethlehem gives meaning to people in all sorts of places. The birth of Christ gives meaning because it reveals the true nature of the universe: the whole physical world is marked by the presence of the divine. Since God became man, man now has the potential to participate with the divine. The same God that created man, angels, and stars would one day come to be born of a woman with the angels singing his praises and the stars guiding the way. This is the mystery of Christmas. It cannot be simplified down to a few bullet points. The mystery of the incarnation can only be wondered at. The God who became flesh cannot be explained. But he can be worshipped.Even if our lives are not what we think they should be, maybe we can take joy and hope in the one who lived, suffered, and died among us. Maybe we can rejoice in the simple things of the world around us. Maybe our white 2020 Christmas is a sign that our God does still desire peace and beauty, and that most important things in life are in the hands of the King born in Bethlehem. Maybe we can celebrate that he took on human flesh not so we could escape suffering, but so that he could redeem suffering. Though our world is currently the home of sickness and chaos, Christmas is our sign that one day this earth will be reborn as the peaceful habitation of God and man alike.
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