Some Christmases are just better than others.

It only takes a few moments of reflection to notice that Christmas is a time of deep contrasts. It’s the celebration of family affection when we miss our loved ones most deeply, the festival of commercial excess when privation is most keenly felt, and the birthday of the Prince of Peace when strife and conflict seem particularly inappropriate. Though loneliness is always unfortunate, and want and war always unacceptable, they seem particularly so at Christmas.

Upon further reflection, however, we observe that the feast was ever thus: the King of Heaven laid in a manger and celebrated by common shepherds and exotic magi, the Saviour of Israel ignored by the priests and teachers of the law, the peace offering of God fleeing as a refugee before the murderous rage of a paranoid king. And even the winter solstice festivals that Christmas displaces are celebrations of contrast: warmth and cold, dark and light, fear and hope.

Last Christmas was the hardest we have ever experienced in my family. A handful of people were in the process of driving us from the ministry in our church in Victoria, and we were facing the uncertainty of unemployment and relocation. Our friends were sharing in our suffering and the church was grieving the loss of its pastor and also facing an uncertain future. One family, in the centre of the action, was so hurt by what was happening that they didn’t even manage to put up a tree. It was a dismal time.

By contrast, however, this Christmas has been one of the happiest we’ve had in many years. Most of our family was in Edmonton celebrating with us. This included our youngest, our daughter and her husband and two children, and our eldest and his wife and five month old baby girl. And our second child, who couldn’t be with us, was in Ontario having a good Christmas of his own. God is good, and life just doesn’t get much better than this.

So, I’d like to hear a bit about your Christmas. What’s been great and what’s been hard? And, over a lifetime, what’s made Christmas dark or light for you? Click on comment and let me know. And I pray, whatever Christmas was for you this year, the coming year will be a great one.

God’s blessings to all,

Dan