Praying Christmas
Christmas has never been my favorite time of year. I_ve always experienced conflict between the zillions of things that I had to do and the „silent night“ of the shepherds.
It_s also hard for me to flip the emotional switch to move from the routine of ordinary time to wait expectantly for the Christ child.
As a young wife and mother I felt put upon to do Christmas — shopping for our children and large families; baking extravagant goodies; sending Christmas cards to friends, relatives, acquaintances and business associates; decorating and entertaining; and going to parties, concerts and programs at school and church.
I taught Sunday school, sat in the nursery, sang in the choir and worked with the women_s group. These all escalated during the Christmas season. The result: Christmas wasn_t meaningful for me. I couldn_t wait for January.
I tried to simplify. I cut our long card list. I made only a few favorite cookies and kept home decorations basic. I said „no“ to things I really didn_t want to do, and we fashioned family traditions that were truly our own, not merely what was expected.
This slowed the pace and reduced stress. But it didn_t deal with my most important questions: Why do we celebrate anyway? What is it really all about?
My Christmas questions were part of larger questions such as, „Who is Jesus Christ?“ and „How can I enter into a more meaningful relationship with him?“
I began to find answers when I went on retreat and learned how to pray with the Scriptures. I learned to listen to God — to meditate with Scripture and be quiet enough to notice the intuitive knowledge that God_s Spirit speaks deep within our souls. And I learned that spiritual life has more to do with what God is doing than with what I_m doing.
Learning to pray
As I quieted down inside and listened to God, I began to approach Christmas differently. I asked different questions. I thought about the shepherds entering Bethlehem, searching for the baby who was the savior of the world.
„How did they know that this was the Christ child?“ I wondered. „What was it about this baby that made them know who he was?“ I opened my Bible and read the text in the manner I had learned while on a retreat, slowly and reflectively, listening with my heart and trying to enter the passage with my imagination.
„When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, _Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us._ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them“
I tried to imagine what the scene looked like: the barn, the warmth of the animals, the smell of the hay. I imagined the little family in their poverty, having their baby in a barn.