A Christmas in Crisis

 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.

Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.

But take heart, because I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

Businesses are being shut down. The economy is failing. There is rioting in the streets. We are locked inside our homes and behind our masks, afraid of a virus and suspicious of one another. We are divided on all fronts, and still, the holidays approach with picturesque greeting cards and Hallmark movies, bright lights on Christmas trees and icing-covered sugar cookies on the counter.  But we know—all the glitter and gifts and good food in the world cannot make everything better.

Our world, our nation, our communities, our homes, and our hearts are in a crisis.

The nativity set on my living room mantle isn’t an accurate representation of the birth of my Savior, but it is a perfect illustration of how I think about God and, more importantly, how I think God should work in my life. Because, let’s be honest, that’s what I want. I much prefer the neat and orderly imitation over the riotous and messy reality.

Along with the rest of the world, I struggle with the changes of 2020. In addition, I still grieve. My son, Brandon, has been gone from this earth for two years now, and yet, I feel that this process of grieving has gotten harder instead of easier. As the anniversary of his death approached in September, I found myself once again shaking my fist at God, asking the same questions over and over, and feeling as if I will never get off this emotional rollercoaster. There have been times when I felt on the brink of insanity and times when I seriously questioned my faith. I felt like, spiritually speaking, I had run into a wall.

If you haven’t already, you’re probably going to run into that wall at some point too. We all do because no matter how much we wish or how much we want, life happens to all of us.

As I have struggled through the past few months, I took a break from public writing. Only recently did I begin to hear God’s voice leading me to do an Advent series. As I prayed over what to write, God led me to some old journal entries and then to reread several of my old annual Christmas letters. In doing so, I began to see how He began working in me years ago, teaching me that the Christmas we imagine is not the Christmas that we need. More than ever, this year, we need the real Christmas story, the one that is a lot more like my life—full of disappointments, difficulties, and disasters.

Jesus left His throne in Heaven to enter a broken world. He came through the body of a broken woman and was raised in the home of a broken man. The time in which He was born was tumultuous, much like ours, full of political upheaval and physical danger. And, despite the fact that He is God in Flesh, Jesus was not immune to any of it, nor were the people who loved Him. Indeed, the real Christmas story was not one of silence and holiness. It was instead a crisis—actually, one crisis after another.

So, during this holiday season, I want to encourage you to take a journey with me. We will explore the dirty parts, the disastrous parts, and the downright ugly parts of the Christmas story. In addition, I will rewind the clock and share with my blog readers parts of my Christmas letters from years past. From those, I hope you will gain a glimpse of God’s faithfulness.  Through this series of lessons and recollections, I hope we can learn about the messes that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus faced, and how their stories can help us face our own.

Download the 2020 Christmas in Crisis Advent Calendar.

Connect with Tricia K. Brown and The Girls Get Together on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Watch Tricia’s 2-Minute Tales every Saturday on YouTube for a short personal story and verse relating to the week’s theme.