This year, though, was a tough one in which to find such joy. I found myself really struggling to wrap my brain around the magnitude of tragedies which affected our local community and beyond. Trying to compose a warm, feel-good Holiday letter in the midst of all the hurt was difficult at best.
Interestingly enough, I wound up with two letters. The first one was more of an effort to somehow cope with the aforementioned tragedies. After reading it, Mandi calmly told me it was well-written, but was definitely more blog-material as opposed to Christmas letter material. She was right, of course, and so I have copied onto this post for your reading pleasure, should you so choose. The second version of our letter was more traditional, and I will post that one separately for those of you who do not normally receive a hard copy and would be interested in reading it.
Here is the first version, which Mandi referred to as "Rev-Kevology." Cute, eh?
Season’s Greetings One and All!
The tree is up and adorned with its decorations, holiday displays dot the neighborhood, and carols new and old fill the airwaves of the local radio stations. Several rounds of Christmas goodies have gone to their various destinations, and holiday gatherings are abundant. Even Mother Nature has joined the scene, adding a few blasts of winter precipitation in order to create the proper landscape.
Such festive celebration, though, seems somewhat faded in the midst of the numerous tragic events over the past several days: a troubled teen walked into an Omaha mall with a high-powered rifle strapped to his shoulder and opened fire, killing eight people before taking his own life; four people died after gunmen opened fire at two Colorado churches; gunfire was exchanged between a couple of high school students in Los Angeles, all over somebody’s girlfriend; a bank in Lincoln was robbed at gunpoint yesterday. A few hours later, a father became upset after his daughter’s order wasn’t corrected at a Lincoln Wendy’s, so he pulled a gun on the young employee and threatened to kill him. Not to mention the ongoing carnage in Iraq, fighting in the Middle East, and on and on and on.
Sigh.
All of these events took place against the backdrop of our church’s Christmas drama. The storyline was centered around “Holly,” who struggled to find the peace and contentment which comes from understanding the meaning of Christmas. Near the end of the drama, Holly learned the meaning of Christmas comes from the knowledge and presence of Christ. It has admittedly been a struggle during this dark stretch of history to find and or feel the presence of Christ, and to know He is with us.
Fast-forward to this morning. We awoke to the first day of clear, blue sky and bright sunshine in quite some time, which immediately worked wonders for our attitudes. After our morning breakfast ritual, we piled into the van and began our trek to school to drop Kaedyn off for another adventurous day of third grade. Our next stop would be Belmont Recreation Center, where Madilyn would join her new friends for preschool, and then back home to hang out with 19-month-old Korynne. On the way home, a discussion began on the radio station we were tuned into about a single mom with three kids who had become homeless after a series of unfortunate and life-changing events. Thanks in-part to donations from that station’s listeners, the family was given a new home and a fresh start. The host of the show repeatedly thanked the listeners for their charity, but also mentioned hope as being a factor in this mom’s life.
Hope. Hearing that word struck a chord of beautiful resonance. We came to realize one of many messages from Christmas, and maybe the most important one for this year. In so many facets of this life, Jesus represents and embodies a sense of hope for each of us. God sent his Son so we could have hope, even during the seemingly darkest of days. If there were ever a central, basic message in all of the teachings of Jesus, it would have to be one of hope. Even in the darkest of days, when we struggle to comprehend life’s events, we have hope. Jesus not only represented hope, but provided us with a model of fortitude to change the world for the greater good, to press on through dark times, and most importantly, always feel God’s presence regardless of life’s circumstances.
From our house to yours, we wish you a Merry Christmas, filled with a sense of hope, encouragement, and the presence of Christ. God Bless.
The tree is up and adorned with its decorations, holiday displays dot the neighborhood, and carols new and old fill the airwaves of the local radio stations. Several rounds of Christmas goodies have gone to their various destinations, and holiday gatherings are abundant. Even Mother Nature has joined the scene, adding a few blasts of winter precipitation in order to create the proper landscape.
Such festive celebration, though, seems somewhat faded in the midst of the numerous tragic events over the past several days: a troubled teen walked into an Omaha mall with a high-powered rifle strapped to his shoulder and opened fire, killing eight people before taking his own life; four people died after gunmen opened fire at two Colorado churches; gunfire was exchanged between a couple of high school students in Los Angeles, all over somebody’s girlfriend; a bank in Lincoln was robbed at gunpoint yesterday. A few hours later, a father became upset after his daughter’s order wasn’t corrected at a Lincoln Wendy’s, so he pulled a gun on the young employee and threatened to kill him. Not to mention the ongoing carnage in Iraq, fighting in the Middle East, and on and on and on.
Sigh.
All of these events took place against the backdrop of our church’s Christmas drama. The storyline was centered around “Holly,” who struggled to find the peace and contentment which comes from understanding the meaning of Christmas. Near the end of the drama, Holly learned the meaning of Christmas comes from the knowledge and presence of Christ. It has admittedly been a struggle during this dark stretch of history to find and or feel the presence of Christ, and to know He is with us.
Fast-forward to this morning. We awoke to the first day of clear, blue sky and bright sunshine in quite some time, which immediately worked wonders for our attitudes. After our morning breakfast ritual, we piled into the van and began our trek to school to drop Kaedyn off for another adventurous day of third grade. Our next stop would be Belmont Recreation Center, where Madilyn would join her new friends for preschool, and then back home to hang out with 19-month-old Korynne. On the way home, a discussion began on the radio station we were tuned into about a single mom with three kids who had become homeless after a series of unfortunate and life-changing events. Thanks in-part to donations from that station’s listeners, the family was given a new home and a fresh start. The host of the show repeatedly thanked the listeners for their charity, but also mentioned hope as being a factor in this mom’s life.
Hope. Hearing that word struck a chord of beautiful resonance. We came to realize one of many messages from Christmas, and maybe the most important one for this year. In so many facets of this life, Jesus represents and embodies a sense of hope for each of us. God sent his Son so we could have hope, even during the seemingly darkest of days. If there were ever a central, basic message in all of the teachings of Jesus, it would have to be one of hope. Even in the darkest of days, when we struggle to comprehend life’s events, we have hope. Jesus not only represented hope, but provided us with a model of fortitude to change the world for the greater good, to press on through dark times, and most importantly, always feel God’s presence regardless of life’s circumstances.
From our house to yours, we wish you a Merry Christmas, filled with a sense of hope, encouragement, and the presence of Christ. God Bless.
1 comment:
A beautiful and well written letter Kevin! I appreciate the honesty in this season when we so often mask true hurt and pain with a ceramic smiley face. Have a very Merry Christmas!
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