Scripture: Isaiah 49:15 – “Can a woman forget her nursing child or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these might forget, yet I will not forget you.” (NRSVue)
I was listening to Christmas music last week. How could I avoid it? And the song that made the wheels in my brain turn this time was “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” It is a great, upbeat song that gets you in the mood for the holidays. But it contains these interesting lyrics: “There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago.”
I had a few thoughts. First of all, who tells scary ghost stories at Christmas? This is a question for another time. But then there are the other tales, those of the glories of Christmases past. These are stories we do tell year after year, those of traditions and disasters and unexpected miracles. There are, of course, also the story of the oldest and most glorious of Christmases, the story of Jesus coming into the world. This is the story that inspires us to do great things throughout the year and is the foundation of so much of our faith. Hearing that story every year at Christmas matters.
Because the stories we tell ourselves matter greatly. The Bible is full of stories, scary and otherwise, that describe how people saw history and their place in it. These stories became a way to understand how God works in our lives. One central story is that of the exile of the people of Jerusalem to Babylon and their subsequent return home. How people tell this story differs across the Old Testament. In the Second Book of Kings, the exile is a punishment from God for repeated idolatry and unfaithfulness. The Book of Lamentations records the cries of feeling abandoned by God. This story is one of pain and loss; it leads to guilt and misery. And this is a story we often tell ourselves, not necessarily about an exile to Babylon, but about how we have lost something that made us feel great or important. About how things used to be better. About how broken and hopeless the world is.
Sometimes we need to hear this story when we need to mourn our losses and learn from our mistakes. But that is not the only story we hear. There is another story, one told especially in the Book of Isaiah, that God has forgiven the people, God is offering a new beginning, and God is leading them home. This is a story about redemption and hope, one that creates a stronger faith and a willingness to work to make the future a brighter one.
Which story should we tell? Isaiah has an opinion. In the forty-ninth chapter, Isaiah sings, “Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his suffering ones.” It is the happy story of hope, but the people are still caught in the old story of despair, saying, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” So, Isaiah asks people to think about God they tell their stories about. Is God like a vicious king who destroys his enemies or a force of nature that wrecks everything around it? Or is God like a mother who nurses the child of her womb? God says that even if a mother can forget her child, God will never forget the people.
What does that story mean to us today? How do we live if we see God as a Mother who has born us, nurtured us, and who will do anything, even dying on a cross, to save us? How does this story change our lives?
This week after Christmas, tell your stories. Tell about ghosts, gifts, and family follies. But tell your story about God, and make sure it is the one that causes you to be the most faithful, happy, and hopeful person you can be in the year to come.
Prayer: Dear Mother, help me to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. Amen.
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