By: Robert Jones
Something For Sunday In Season of Advent
Another Christmas season is upon us and because of the worldwide health concerns related to the spread of COVID-19 many of our plans are unlike any year before. Additionally, the nation is watching closely on as our presidential exchange of power is moving unusually rough. All of this comes off the heels of a spring and summer riddled with racial tension based on the high-profile killings of unarmed Black Americans. It appears all of the social, cultural and economic mainstays of our lives that not only serve as anchors to civilization but also support the meaning and purpose we give to life, have either withered away or are desperately hanging on by a thread.
It is a precarious situation for human beings when they find themselves at a point where meaning, purpose and substance are slipping away. Some find purpose in providing for and protecting their family. But what happens when you can no longer work? Some find fulfillment in gathering with friends and family. But what happens when gatherings are prohibited? Maybe it is finance and wealth that means most to a person, but what happens in an uncertain economy and when grocery shelves become empty? Or maybe someone leads a church, religious group or social organization. What are they to do when there are no gatherings and their network finds it difficult to connect digitally? Sadly, what we have learned in 2020 is that the control we have on life is a mirage. As a result, the things we previously found substantial have become surprisingly trivial.
With our existential foundation shaken, we seem to be watching the slow collapse of our paper-thin societal skyscraper. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in results of a recent survey showed that anxiety, depression, substance abuse and thoughts of suicide are all increasing during the pandemic. Similarly, in his book ‘Alienated America ‘ Timothy P Carney reported violence, depression and substance abuse as characteristics of young men who lived isolated, purposeless lives while working in the oil fields of North Dakota. What are we to make of all this? It seems we have built a civilization with all the signs of purpose and meaning but have missed the most important part, that is the foundation upon which all these things must stand. Yes, we must work, build nations, economies, families, churches, groups and ourselves, but why? Is life an endless toil with no ultimate meaning or reward? For all of our energies and efforts we still find ourselves asking the big questions of “Who am I?” “What am I here for?” “Where am I going?”
From this modern prism we can view the Christmas season with fresh perspective. This time of celebration is not about gifts, family, friends, or charity, although all of those things are good when enjoyed in a healthy manner. This season is about God, looking down on his human creation lost in the struggle for morality, meaning and purpose, and deciding to visit them in the form of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus’ coming is a sign of God’s good will to humanity. If God has truly visited us in the man Jesus, then all the substance we seek, the foundation needed for living is found in Jesus. His birth says that God not only sees and knows our struggles but that he loves us enough to experience those same struggles as he empowers and inspires us to live through it. Jesus’ birth is also the sign of a better reality. In that reality the toils of this world are absents and replaced with the eternal bliss on knowing our creator.
If you find yourself troubled by the dissolution of our civilization’s institutions, know that their fragility is to point us to the unchanging stability of a God who has loved us. With that I will leave with words from the Gospel of John to reflect on during this time. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
