Awkward Family Christmas: Mary’s Magnificat

I’ve been asked a few times: “Why is our worship series called ‘Awkward Family Christmas’?” Well, it is a reminder that the hope of Christmas, Emmanuel, God With Us, is about God with us in real life, in all its hustle and bustle and ups and downs and even awkwardness. And if we listen and open our hearts to God, we can find sacred right with us in real life this season. When we think of the Advent season we often think of tranquil, snow-dusted scenes, perfectly glittery decorations, and a Courier and Ives landscape. Christmas is so idealized, perfect, and prepared it can seem like we can never come close to achieving it in our real, not-so-put-together lives. Instead of a season of peace and joy, we often feel a season of pressure and just-not-quite-what-we-expected. But what if I told you that the first Christmas, that most sacred and God-with-us moments in our human journey, wasn’t prim and proper at all. It was messy and mixed up and cluttered and chaotic and overcrowded, underfunded, and underplanned — full of awkward relatives, uninvited quests, and plenty of farm animals hanging around. It puts our awkward Christmases to shame. Yet, here is the beauty of that first Christmas: there was no shame in it at all. Instead, there was good news of great joy for all people, all along life’s journey. Because there was a greater plan, a greater story — something awesome right there in all the awkwardness. Christmas is the story of the love of God meeting us in the midst of real, real life. It is the story of the finding the sacred right here in the stuff our human journeys are made of. And because of that, Christmas is a message of profound, real hope: if God’s love and sacred story can find us in that first Christmas, then God is truly with us always and everywhere, even in the chaotic seasons of life. So, this Christmas, wherever you are, settle in to real life, whatever that means for you right now. Embrace the awesome in the awkwardness, and the profound present that is these present moments. And know that the hope of Christmas is the hope the God is with us in it all — embracing it all — and all of us, too. Join us in worship and throughout the season as we explore the first Christmas story, find sacredness even in its awkward moments, and find hope and peace and joy and love in our real, real lives.