itsawonderfilledlife

Week 1
The People’s Need

From deep in the realm of the dead  I called for help Jonah 2:2b

Two are better than one Ecclesiastes 4:9

I am lonely and afflicted Psalm 25:16

Christmas is the season of smiling faces, of deep belly laughter, of good cheer and joy … and loneliness.

Someone said to me recently that Christmas is so much about family that it makes them feel lonely. They are not alone is that feeling.

There is a song that came out in the 1980’s with the following words,

"Sad songs say so much. 
If someone else is suffering enough 
to write them down 
When every single word makes sense  
it's easier to have those songs around." 

Ah … to know we are not alone!

This is our human cry. Our human need.

This is why we need Christmas! Why we need a Savior.

We need the words of Jesus himself:

 “and be sure of this—
that I am with you always,
even to the end of the world.”

Matthew 28:20

There is also a person of the Christmas story who knew what it was to be alone. Mary, a single teen, pregnant … in a society, a time a place, when women were equated to dogs on a good day. She received the news of her pregnancy from an angelic host and then kept the news to herself, until she was with her cousin Elizabeth … the kindred spirit who knew of Mary’s condition, for her own womb was shook with the presence of she and her unborn one. Though Mary may not have been physically alone, for she had family, her part in this advent story threaded through her entire life, leaving her with an experiential loneliness for much of the rest of her life.

Father God,

Some of us feel so lonely at this Christmas season. We long for the human connection that we see and hear in the music, the movies and even in our places of worship. Yet, we go to bed alone and wake up the same.

Some who are lonely are even surrounded by other humans, but connections have failed. Loneliness can also be felt when we walk through this season alongside another (others).

And Lord, if we are not one of those who walks through advent longing for connection, please open our eyes and hearts to those may be struggling. When you bring them to mind, convict us to raise their names to you, to contact them, to do something for them … with them.

Your Son, whose Earthly arrival we anticipate … he knew loneliness. He knew what it is to be alone with his thoughts, with his hurt. He knew what it was to be left alone by the one who sent him as he hung on a cross. God … your Son did this so that we could know his presence, your presence.

May you be real to us this season. May we bring the real you to others.