December 21st is the anniversary of when Kathryn and I lost our son, Emmanuel. It was 2009. And, of course, right before Christmas. Who has time to grieve when there is so much stuff to do?
While the death of Nadia always makes me wish others would remember such days, Emmanuel’s death always reminds me how quickly I myself can forget. Some grief we bury. Some pain is too close, too much to bear at the time.
For pastors, of course, the Christmas season is always a busy time of year. Sermons, bulletins, calls, Christmas programs, caroling, there are always a thousand things to pull us away from our Lord, and from anything else. Pastors don’t have a monopology on this time, either. Mothers, it seems to me, are always full of things that need doing. And holidays or Christmas breaks and the like, well, they may actually be more work for mom, not less. But the list could go on.
How do we allow the business of our lives to interfere from what the point of our lives is in the first place? I forget what is important. I forget even big things, like life and death. I get distracted or I distract myself. I run and hide. I flee from such all encompasing realities.
How many of us hide ourselves from our pain? How many walk around, hurting and wounded, in fear of being found out? How many flee at the thought of being weak?
I think that is why a name like Emmanuel is such an important one for Christians. God is with us. There is no “if†behind the name. God is with us IF we behave. God is with us IF we are good. God is with us UNTIL we die. No. It is a statement of fact. God is with us. Period. The words from Exodus come to mind:
“During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.†(Exodus 2:23–25 ESV)
God heard. God remembered. God saw. God knew.
That is the God of the Bible. That is the God who comforts me, even in the face of my forgetfulness and death. That is the God who would come as a little child.
-Pastor Todd Peperkorn
I have just returned from burying my wife who suffered from depression over the deaths of our two children from years ago. She would not seek medical assistance and refused any suggestions on my part to seek counseling. As my son also died in December, this will certainly not be my favorite month of the year.
But I have learned once again that God is with us and will remain with us until the end of the age. It is His strength that sustains me, it is His grace that upholds me, and it is His mercy that allows me to reach out to others who are hurting.
Christmas is a time that I do not enjoy but I time I need–I need to know that my Lord cared so much about me and the world that He sent His Son to save us from our sinfulness and to grant us through the resurrection, life everlasting. Those are the gifts that last and have meaning.
Thanks for your post. I and a bunch of other readers need this reminder.