When the music at the symphony concert is stunning, tears come to my eyes. At a wedding, I cry. A touching act of kindness brings tears. A movie in which a character makes a turn around makes me tear up. In the presence of extraordinary love or beauty, yes, a smile comes, but also tears.
When we think of Christmas, this small, vulnerable, poor child being born into the world to show us God, it is moving. To think about his life, his teaching, and his death. It is compelling. To reflect on all that he has been to people through the ages, it is beautiful. Such love. A book, a story, a life, cannot contain all of the love that we see in Jesus. His love is stronger than all of our weakness, all of our evil, all of our apathy, all of our hatred and meanness, all of our selfishness, all of our cruelty and violence. There’s nothing more beautiful than that.
So, among the smiles and hugs and laughs of Christmas, may there also be a few tears. May the love and beauty of those glad tidings of great joy to all people stir our souls once more.
Prayer: Christmas will always be more than we could ask or imagine. May it work its magic on us once more reminding us that the heart of creation is love, the breath of the universe is compassion, and the soul of the cosmos is beauty. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 