I'm finding more and more that this season of Christmas has a painful irony to it. Christmas commemorates the coming of the Christ into this world. What we commemorate here is the epitome of all grace being brought here to Earth for the singular reason that He might remind people of who God is and die that we might have a relationship with Him.
Yet, in this season in which grace should be celebrated more than anything, I have been finding almost the exact opposite to be true. The pressure of this season seems to create a climate in which we become more self-centered, and less willing to show grace than ever. Blame this on commercialism, spiritual turmoil, what ever force you feel like pointing the finger at. The fact is that the climate of this season, one which should be more joy-filled than we could ever imagine, can be somewhat depressing.
Ever since I arrived here in Colorado, I have had the displeasure of seeing case of after case of ungrace being acted out. From drivers to shoppers to parking garage attendants, I am constantly seeing a pervasive lack of grace, which is exactly what Christ came to bring. I honestly believe that this has to do with an equally pervasive lack of understanding of what this season is truly about, the amazing gift that was Jesus' coming into this world. I, however, cannot force anyone to believe in what Christ came to do so that I can have a more joyful Christmas.
But what can we do? What can be done to challenge the ungrace which exists particularly in this season? I've been thinking on this a lot lately, and the answer which I've come to is surprisingly simple. We show grace. In this time in which all the pressures of providing gifts and the pain of unmet expectations inspires in people the drive to lash out at anyone who offends them, we show them an unprecedented level of forgiveness and love.
I won't say that this is easy to do, because that would make me a liar. Indeed, we have been given a model for what showing grace to a graceless world might look like. Something which has stuck in my head is the scripture in which Jesus talks about how he came not to bring peace but a sword. The more I have thought on this (a passage which has confused me for a good long while), I have found that the sword which Jesus brought was grace. He showed unending love and forgiveness to those who had been shunned from society, social pariahs, those who were seen as the lowest of the low. In doing so, he dramatically challenged the foundation of an entire culture.
The image used to describe this grace, this shattering of social norms through love, is a sword. A symbol of warfare. I'm not saying we're going to find ourselves getting in fights for loving people, but I can say it will definitely surprise most of those we interact with, sometimes more than we might think possible. In the midst of the pressures of this season, the last thing someone expects to receive after exploding in anger is a loving reception. That, though, is exactly what they need to receive. Grace is infectious. By showing it to people in the moments when they expect it the least, we have the opportunity to challenge this world to be more loving on a fundamental level.
So in this season in which I'm fairly certain that a great many of us will experience a heaping helping of ungrace, let's shake the foundations of this world. Let's love in the midst of being proverbially spat on. Sure, it'll hurt us in the moment, and it probably won't feel like we're having much of an impact, but nothing worth having is free. Let's be willing to feel that momentary pain of overlooking ungrace so that someone's life might be changed forever.
With His love and hopefully His grace,
Taylor
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