Care for Others

We are now in the four weeks of Advent 2020. It will be a Christmas like none we can remember, with all kinds of reasons to be concerned, careful, and wishing life was other than it is. Family gatherings, parties of friends and colleagues, shared meals and much else will likely be constrained. But there will still be Christmas. What doesn’t change is the coming of Christ into a broken world, on a dark night illumined by a star, and in the crowded resentments of a country under Roman lockdown for tax purposes. (Sound familiar?)

In all the understandable anxieties and fatigue following nine months of pandemic upheaval, certain things are still true: Christ comes as Immanuel, God with us; the child is called Jesus, the savior of the world; the angels sang of God’s promised purpose of peace on earth and good-will among all peoples; shepherds worshipped, wise travelers brought gifts, Mary pondered all that was happening. All still true.

There’s a lot we won’t be able to do at Christmas; but caring for others isn’t one of them. As a community of Jesus, we are witnesses to the love of God in the gift of Christ. We have opportunity to carry out our Kingdom assignments for Advent. Perhaps a more limited Christmas will enable us to reflect on the love of God for our broken world, and then to reflect that same love of God upon our broken world. May it be so! 

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation