Christmas! The most wonderful time of the year! “What’s so wonderful about it?” you may ask.
Christmas may elicit your most painful memories as you try to endure this season without loved ones. Here in Uganda this year, the Christmas season has brought unexpected suffering in our organization as we are coming alongside unwanted children, broken families, and terminal illness.
These deep trials don’t feel very magical and cozy. They are confusing and heart-wrenching for us. So how do we celebrate the joys of Christmas when we are surrounded by havoc wreaked by sin?
Living in this sinful world actually forces us to celebrate Christmas. Jesus’ very name reveals the purpose of Christmas. The angel said, “you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” and “they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us).” Christmas happened because we have sin.
Jesus was born “that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. Hark! the herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King.’” And “no more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.”
Christmas reminds us that there is hope for sin. Hope for the sin that destroys lives, brings pain, and even causes the cursed effects of this world we live in. Christmas shouts that this is all temporary and that one day this world will be made new because Jesus will come again to “rule the world with truth and grace and make(s) the nations prove the glories of His righteousness and wonders of his love.”
And in the meantime, while we wait for His coming, we can walk through the hardships of this life with Immanuel. God with us indwells us. We are never alone. We always have Him to comfort, guide, help us. Our Wonderful Counselor has come.
So celebrate! No matter what painful reminders you are walking through this Christmas, you are not alone. Immanuel is with you.
Here at SOS Ministries, we invite you to join us as we CELEBRATE CHRIST!
Merry Christmas!
With Love, Joy, and Peace,
Shannon & Danielle Hurley
