Walking with Jesus this Christmas
By: Christ Church London
Tags: Christmas, Jesus, Christ Church London, Worship, Christian

By Hannah Rich

We are approaching such a special time of year, and to all of us, this Christmas season comes with a vast array of challenges: expectation, hope, fear, doubt, loneliness, anger and everything else in between. How do we prepare for the unknown? How do we keep our faith steady in the fog? How do we balance the everyday battle mixed with all the new and different that leads to soul exhaustion?

I’d love to journey through Christmas with capacity ever-increasing to meet the needs of those around me. I’d love to know that everything I do would be marked with love and grace and I’d float through this season with ease and positivity. It’d be so wonderful to have picture perfect food, be surrounded by perfectly loving family and that my children want to sponsor a tree or give their gifts to the homeless. But. I’ve been through times of depression. I’ve been hurt by words said in the heat of lockdown life. I’ve seen pain and injustice and ached with those who are broken. I’ve parented in a pandemic. Trying to teach my kids about patience and struggling myself to find patience for the toll I have in my own home. I’ve worried about work or lack thereof. Felt the panic and pinch of financial needs. I know life is messy and have come to learn that life is very real.

I can’t promise that Christmas this year will be full of perfect cheer for us all. I will probably shout at an inanimate object at some point. I may or may not have time to write my Christmas cards, pray for my children every night or bring peace, love and harmony to the moments that truly matter. I might be loving and sobbing and living and praying and surrendering through it all. I’ll be inviting others into the awkward — because this sacred place is what connects us to one another, and it’s what He has asked. And the journey, is our story.

It’s the leg work along the way. He promised to be beside me… and I found Him there. He promised to go before me… and I’ve know His closeness. He held up His end and then some. He went further. He loved deeper. He held harder. He pursued more. He allowed it all so that I could find rest in the knowing of Him.

And that is where the truth of it is — His promises lie in the rest of our KNOWING Him. Who He is. Who He (always) has been. Who He will continue to be. Because His promises still stand. His strength is dependable. And the hope I have in them hasn’t flickered or faded. It’s me that understands them differently now. Me that’s grown. Me that’s changed. Me that’s found His grace anew. And me… who gets to tell the story.

Steffany Gretzinger’s beautiful song No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus perfectly sums up my heart for all of us walking into this season:

‘If my heart could tell a story. If my life would sing a song. If I have a testimony. If I have anything at all. His faithful hand has held me all this way. Let it be known, in You alone, my joy was found.

Let my children tell their children. Let this be their memory. That all my treasure was in heaven. That You are everything to me.’

May the peace and deep rest of Jesus surround and sustain and surprise you as you walk in His strength. The story you tell, good, bad and ugly, can be wrapped up in the beautiful gift of Jesus if we allow that still small voice to whisper truth and hope daily. Invite him again to your story this Christmas.