Darkness at Christmas
Dealing with Darkness at Christmas
It seems each Christmas I hear more people
talk about how difficult this time can be for those who are
suffering, depressed, or struggling with loss.
Posts like When Darkness Falls at
Christmas, What Grieving People Wish You
Knew at Christmas, and The Problem with Our Holly
Jolly Christmas Songs remind us that in spite of the parties,
sentimental commercials, holiday greetings, and family reunions, all is
not “calm and bright.”
For many of us, Christmas is troubled and dark.
My daughter, Brittany Hope,
has had a tender heart for those kinds of people for years.
A wife whose husband’s life was snuffed out
too early. A young couple burying their stillborn child.
Parents carrying the weight of an adult child no
longer walking with God.
Singles longing for a family of their own.
Brittany’s love for the Savior and those he came to redeem
overflows in songs, lyrics, quotes, and poems that she frequently posts on
Facebook and Instagram.
In line with her middle name,
she consistently points others to a God who not only knows the depths of
our sufferings and loss, but comforts us in the midst of them through the
gospel.
Recently she asked me and her
sister, McKenzie, if we’d record one of her songs on video.
She wanted to share it with friends
whose Christmas is characterized more by sadness than celebration.
People for whom the Christmastime seems to be more
about darkness than deliverance.
So Tuesday night we did a quick
video and Brittany posted it on Facebook with the introduction: “A song for those in darkness this Christmas
season.”
It’s been 2 1/2 days and
her “few friends” have turned into over 100,000 as the video has
been shared more than 1800 times.
She’s received emails from people she’s never met
saying how God used her song to encourage them.
One pastor emailed saying this past week a family
in his church lost an infant while another family’s 20 year old daughter died
in a car accident.
He stumbled across the song on Facebook and said
numerous people in his church had been comforted through it.
Others let us know this would be the first (or second,
or third, or tenth) Christmas without a parent, spouse, child, or friend.
The pain was still fresh, raw, and profound, and the
fight for joy still difficult.
They said God used the song not only to allow them to grieve, but to give them hope in the midst of their
sadness.
And that’s what Christmas does.
It reminds us that we are not yet in the time of uninterrupted joy.
Our celebrations are always tainted by the reality
that although the Savior has come, everything isn’t yet right.
Sorrow is real. Death has not disappeared.
So in the midst of the joy,
and perhaps because of it, Christmas is an ideal time to address our
pain, sadness, loss, and darkness.
For as Isaiah said: “The people who walked in
darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.” (Isaiah 9:2, ESV)
If we had no darkness to deal
with, there would be no need for a great light to come.
Our darkness is deep, but the salvation and love
revealed in Jesus Christ go deeper.
God
promises, “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!” (Psalm
126:5, ESV)
It may be next month, next year, or in the next life.
But Jesus Christ, who took our sins upon himself and
endured God’s wrath in our place, has made sure that one day every tear will be
wiped away.
Christmas assures us that
day is coming.
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