still waiting... what a surprise!

 

i was never much into all the personality tests like myers-briggs and such- until i was introduced a few years ago to the enneagram. it's a little too true, and scary accurate. i'm a 5w6, and that means i don't much like surprises, unless it's during a period when surprises could be expected to occur, such as a holiday or birthday. i'm such a 5 that i don't let the computer put my solitaire cards up automatically, so that i can put the suits up in the "right" order myself. there's a chance i have a problem.

(bunny trail: i have just now- at this moment- realized i've never told nik that, and i can already hear him laughing in the future if he reads this. nik, stop it!!)

 

so i guess you can tell what 2020 has done to my mental constitution.

 

back when we were upset over being separated for easter, our naïve little selves were thinking fondly of gathering instead for summer vacation or the fourth of july, or labor day… or halloween… or thanksgiving… and now christmas.  nik and i moved from a quaran-dating relationship to a quarangagement one, to a quaran-wedding-planning one (which is a total blast; i highly recommend that whole experience as a character development activity). on top of a stupid germ playing cat's cradle with every relationship in the world, we checked facebook with growing trepidation not knowing what new potential disaster was wreaking havoc with what country or state. in a cruel twist of irony, the year that americans re-learned just how important teachers and nurses are was the year that national teacher's week  and national nurse's week were basically overlooked by the nation, because the nation was locked up at home and not looking at anyone else, just in case covid19 was spread by vision. murder hornets, hurricanes, a continent on fire, whatever the heck was happening in the sahara, tigers and kings and carol-didn’t-do-it, not to mention the most abnormal presidential election in our history as a country. the good news is that all politicians still lie, so at least we can hold on to that.

 

but we've been waiting for so long to return to "normal" that our past normal is basically gone. nobody is going to think about a hug or handshake the same way again. even if everyone were vaccinated tomorrow, this cure the world has been awaiting can't undo what the virus has done. there is no social strata unmarked by covid, not a single hour of media output that doesn't include it, no family or business or organization that hasn't had to adapt.

 

i heard this song (again) this holiday season on one of my christmas music cds in my car. i hit repeat twice because each time the words hit a little deeper. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF952rzG3Yk

  

[on the high probability that the link doesn't work.... go to youtube and listen to "how many kings" by downhere].

seriously- just listen to the words and then actually consider them.

most jews around 3 bc would sniff their noses at our "problems" and rant about theirs. they didn't even get elections! or netflix! or vaccines! or toilet paper! well, actually, they could really empathize with some of us on that. oh- and lying politicians.

they waited.

for centuries.

they waited so long, a lot of them had actually forgotten what it was they were supposed to be waiting for.

they were waiting for a King. a Savior. the Anointed One.

 

and then He came. but it was so out of the blue that absolutely nobody would have known about it for decades without heavenly messengers bursting into the physical realm to scare the pants off some shepherds and declare the news themselves.

a King? just born… now? lying in a what now?!?

yup. a manger. a feed box. probs has cows nudging Him with their big noses. that's the One you've been hearing about for 400 years- ha ha! you thought He'd never come, didn't you? surprise!!

(bunny trail: when did pants become a "thing"?)

 

i don't fully get why non-religious people celebrate christmas at all. there's no conceivable reason that is grounded in anything solid. i also don't get why non-christians celebrate christmas. who cares about a baby born 2000 years ago? the only reason we celebrate is because this baby was special. this baby was a King, a Savior, the Anointed One. completely, utterly unexpected- but still predicted by prophets ages beforehand. tiny, dependent, unspectacular- but still with unimaginable destiny.

this little One would spend the next 33 years or so surprising everyone He came in contact with. there was not a single part of daily life He couldn't affect, not many conversation topics He would avoid, no social circle He wouldn't join if invited.

 

on this side of history, we make light of the christmas story, and think how silly that whole generation was for not recognizing Jesus for who He was. back then? back then, every year was a potential 2020, with droughts, famines, wind storms, poverty, diseases galore and not a single cure for anything, and of course, lying politicians who also murdered people on a fairly regular basis. their newsfeeds weren't any more encouraging than ours.

 

maybe we should do what the shepherds did, and just marvel.

imagine heaven- go ahead.  the lights, the beauty, the brightness, the angels, the joy, the absolute perfection of everything in sight.

now imagine voluntarily walking right back out of the pearly gates and trading that perfection for… 2020, covid and all. yeah… nopety nope nope.

 

that's what Jesus did.

 

the King Who spent eternity in glory left His throne behind, to be confined to a place in time and space, entering a limited dimension- for us.

the Lord Who created galaxies with angels singing in the background, crafted a perfect planet for us humans stepped into His own creation now marred by sin- for us.

the God Who adapts reality with a word let Himself be mocked, scorned, abused, beaten, harassed, tortured, and murdered- for us. He poured out His very lifeblood for the sake of the very same ones who spilled it.

 

no other religion or philosophy even has a category for that kind of event. why?

because it makes zero sense. it's more than a surprise, it's insanity! the extent to which God went, in order to let us back into His holy presence is mind-blowing. every other faith (or non-faith) has a code, a ruler, a list of minimum expectations, that its followers have to know, follow, do, measure up to, in order to enter paradise (or its equivalent).  there are no surprises (at least, not here on earth) because the people know the extent to which they have to go.  

 

our God - the One True God- walked that entire distance for us. His path goes the whole way from heaven straight through to satan's front door. the way to God had been given to the jews so that they could take that message to the world. instead they hoarded it, hid it, forgot it, and finally rejected it. Jesus came to clear the way again. His arrival on the scene sent shock waves through the ancient world. why? because they were thinking the same words of the song, just different.  no real King would step down from a throne for humans. no real Lord would abandon the heavens for us. no "greats" would consider taking a human body.

no real God would pour out His heart to romance a world that is torn all apart.

no real God could do that for…. me… could He?

would a heavenly Father send His Son to this sinful world, knowing that His earthly life would end on a cross, after hours of incredible physical, emotional, and spiritual torture and agony? how could a Deity undo the horrific mess of sin that truly was pandemic- affecting every part of the natural world.

 

this One did.

 

because that's what it took to bridge the infinite gulf between sinners and God. and God was the only One who could go that far.

that's why non-religious people still celebrate christmas on some level. because inside they are asking the same questions as the ancients, not knowing that the answers are all, "yes." we celebrate because we know that "yes"- we know that God has done what no other god could do, that He went farther than a sinful human could go, and that even if everyone else has gotten tired of waiting and hoping, that's okay.  the waiting is over! the Savior is already here!

that's why all christians now are the heralds of truth- we declare that the Messiah ("Anointed One") has come "once to bear the sins of many, and that He will come a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him" (Heb 9:28).

 

so yes, christians are waiting… again…

but this time we wait knowing the end of this story- we don't have to worry about surprises there (but before that, probs a lot of them)! the timing will be a surprise, but not the ultimate outcome. so we wait eagerly this time- expectantly, hopefully, joyfully. whatever plagues and pandemics and politicians happen between now and then, we celebrate with the angels the One we've been waiting for. 

 

merry christmas, everybody :)