{"id":12245,"date":"2012-12-22T21:47:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-23T04:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"2c529036-9abe-11e8-99ad-ca52c1e5b2af"},"modified":"2012-12-22T21:47:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-23T04:47:00","slug":"hopes-fears-and-longing-at-christmas","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/hopes-fears-and-longing-at-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopes, Fears and Longing at Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\u201cBaby, all I want for<\/p>\n

Christmas is you.\u201d \u2014Mariah Carey<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was in my teens when I<\/p>\n

begged my mom to buy me the now played out Mariah Carey Christmas CD. She<\/p>\n

consented to the purchase so long as she could take a Sharpie to any less than<\/p>\n

modest album artwork. With that agreement made, I was free to wail along to<\/p>\n

Mariah\u2019s lovesick Christmas carols?at the push of a button.<\/p>\n

Every year I\u2019d sigh, \u201cShe<\/p>\n

just gets me<\/em>. All I want for Christmas is\u2026.\u201d you can finish the stanza, I\u2019m<\/p>\n

sure. I hoped fervently that next year the songs would no longer ring true, and<\/p>\n

I\u2019d have someone special to share the most romantic time of the year with.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know when and<\/p>\n

how Christmas became the most romantic time of the year, but a cursory glance<\/p>\n

at the channel guide on TV makes it clear that I wasn\u2019t alone in missing my<\/p>\n

certain someone most at Christmastime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thankfully, I have<\/p>\n

outgrown teen angst. Even so, Christmas marks the passage of time. Even with my<\/p>\n

Mariah Carey days behind me, I can\u2019t help but wonder if maybe next year I\u2019ll\u00a0have<\/p>\n

someone beside\u00a0me to enjoy\u00a0my wonderful, loud,\u00a0loving family<\/p>\n

with, and if maybe my grandparents will hold on to life long enough to hold one<\/p>\n

of my babies, too.<\/p>\n

Or maybe not.<\/p>\n

I find grace and fuel<\/p>\n

for patience in this season of unknown by recognizing that my unfulfilled<\/p>\n

longings are not in vain, nor are they more hurtful than those of others. Once<\/p>\n

I am married I will trade these longings for another. Things on this side of<\/p>\n

eternity have yet to be made right, and so our longings follow us.<\/p>\n

\u201cLong lay the world in<\/p>\n

sin and error pining \u2018til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.\u201d \u2014O, Holy<\/p>\n

Night<\/strong><\/p>\n

We will each be touched<\/p>\n

to varying degrees by the brokenness unleashed by the Fall. There are no<\/p>\n

loopholes in this. All of my married friends suffer. All of my single friends<\/p>\n

suffer. Childless friends suffer, and friends with children suffer. This isn\u2019t<\/p>\n

cause for gloom. For each unique point of suffering there is also a correlating<\/p>\n

joy, but as my friend who has a beautiful marriage and a\u00a0precious daughter<\/p>\n

simply put it, \u201cIt\u2019s still life.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, as singles longing<\/p>\n

to enter the one relationship tasked with mirroring Christ\u2019s great love for the<\/p>\n

church, Christmas can be a time of subtle suffering not experienced by others.<\/p>\n

Christmas celebrations revolve around family and children. Babies and couples<\/p>\n

grace Christmas cards.?Christmas songs croon about keeping warm with lovers.<\/p>\n

Christmas cheer is not entirely withheld from us, but these particulars tend to<\/p>\n

fan the flames of longing more sharply. <\/p>\n

As much as I might<\/p>\n

desire to participate in those sweet aspects of the season, an honest look<\/p>\n

reminds me they have little to do with Christ\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n

You see, Advent is all<\/p>\n

about longing. It\u2019s about waiting. It\u2019s about hopes and fears.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hopes and fears of<\/p>\n

all the years are met in you tonight\u2026\u201d \u2014O Little Town of Bethlehem<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a recent conversation<\/p>\n

with Dr. Del Tacket, he reminded us about the silence between Malachi and<\/p>\n

Matthew. The wondrous prophecies of the Messiah were proclaimed and then were<\/p>\n

followed by centuries of silence. Centuries of waiting … and waiting … and<\/p>\n

waiting … until at last He appeared, and history was never the same.<\/p>\n

As my younger brother<\/p>\n

once said, \u201cThe incarnation is just the biggest deal.\u201d It really is. We tend to<\/p>\n

make Christmas all about Easter, and of course they are intrinsically woven together.<\/p>\n

But the incarnation is the biggest deal because God became man not only to<\/p>\n

ransom us from the curse of sin, but also to know us. To embody the God who<\/p>\n

sees (Genesis 16:13<\/a>); to be the friend who weeps<\/p>\n

alongside us (John 11: 33-35<\/a>); to be misunderstood,<\/p>\n

betrayed, alone, reviled for us.\u00a0He came as a vulnerable infant so that we<\/p>\n

might have a high priest who sympathizes with our weakness, temptation,<\/p>\n

suffering at every point yet without succumbing to sin (Hebrews 4:15<\/a>). How humbling. How hope giving!\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Advent is about<\/p>\n

longing and feeling the brokenness of life acutely, Christmas is about the<\/p>\n

Savior who alone satisfies that longing and heals that brokenness. It\u2019s a time<\/p>\n

to allow the longings to propel us to Christ and bask in the enough and<\/p>\n

more-than enough nature of God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n

\u201cO tidings of comfort<\/p>\n

and joy\u2026\u201d \u2014God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI have told you these<\/p>\n

things, so that in me you might have peace. In this world you will have<\/p>\n

trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world\u201d (John 16:33). In Jesus\u2019<\/p>\n

words to His beloved disciples He tells them plainly: This world is going to<\/p>\n

disappoint you, but this isn\u2019t the end of the story. I have conquered the pain<\/p>\n

and suffering that this world will bring your way. You can find peace in Me.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t trite positivity, friends. If it feels this way, I can only pray<\/p>\n

that you will encounter anew the life giving power of God\u2019s presence and the<\/p>\n

tangible force of His comfort and joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesu, Joy of Man\u2019s<\/p>\n

Desiring\u201d \u2014Johan Sebastian Bach<\/strong><\/p>\n

My other favorite<\/p>\n

Christmas CD in my teens was Amy Grant\u2019s Home for Christmas <\/em>album. Among<\/p>\n

many familiar favorites, it contained the classical piece \u201cJesu, Joy of Man\u2019s<\/p>\n

Desiring\u201d by Bach. Its Celtic melody would set my feet dancing. It embodied<\/p>\n

joyful celebration.<\/p>\n

The German verse<\/a> translated reveals its author has<\/p>\n

encountered heartbreak, \u201cJesus remains my joy, my heart’s comfort and essence,<\/p>\n

Jesus resists all suffering, He is my life’s strength, my eye’s desire and sun,<\/p>\n

my soul’s love and joy; so will I not leave Jesus.” The title aptly<\/p>\n

captures the depth of this truth. Jesus is the joy of man\u2019s desiring; the joy<\/p>\n

in our longings. Even when earthly hopes are satisfied, it is He who is truly, \u201cour<\/p>\n

soul\u2019s love and joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wherever you\u2019re at this Christmas, allow<\/p>\n

your longings to testify to your need for a Savior and join the Psalmist in<\/p>\n

remembering the One who remembers you, \u201cO, Lord all of my longing is before<\/p>\n

You; And my sighing is not hidden from you\u201d (Psalm 38:9). Your sighs are not<\/p>\n

hidden from Him. He came near. He did not stay silent. He took on flesh to be<\/p>\n

your Immanuel. This is joyous news. This is enough cause to celebrate with<\/p>\n

abandon this holiday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/body><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u201cBaby, all I want for Christmas is you.\u201d \u2014Mariah Carey I was in my teens when I begged my mom to buy me the now played out Mariah Carey Christmas CD. She consented to the purchase so long as she could take a Sharpie to any less than modest album artwork. 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