Christmas 2020

This has been a year that has stretched all of us to the breaking point. It started with an impeachment, then really got rolling with covid-19, shutdowns, protests and riots across the country, more covid, more shutdowns, and the past several weeks we’ve lived through all the election drama. Frankly, it has been a blur. Time flying by and yet passing too slowly. Not content to go out like a lamb, as I write this on Christmas Day, we all awoke to news of a bomb being set off in Downtown Nashville.

In light of all that, I’d like to share a different story for Christmas. In Matthew 12:18–⁠21, we read a prophecy from Isaiah:

Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judg­ment to the Gen­tiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judg­ment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

To everyone that is feeling a little battered and bruised, to those whose light has al­most been put out, know this the Lord Jesus was not sent to break you; he will not put out your flame, though it smoulders low.

Rather, as Isaiah 61 says,

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken­hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn … to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the plant­ing of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

This has been a chaotic and evil year. One that we all look forward to putting behind us, but let us not forget the lessons God has taught us.

Evil is real, but God. God is stronger. In the midst of all of the blessings and healing Isaiah lists, there is this, Jesus came to proclaim not just the acceptable year of the Lord, but also “the day of vengeance of our God”.

Evil does not go unpunished. Although we may not see it and after 2020 it may look like evil has won, it has not.

There is Hope. There is Healing. There is Joy.

In Jesus of Nazareth are all these things. Born of a virgin, exalted of God and despised of man. Beaten and crucified for our sins, he rose victorious from the grave that he might offer eternal life and hope to all. To give us beauty for ashes. Joy for morning. Praise where there was heaviness, that we might grow in strength and righteousness, glorifying God together.

Let us remember that Jesus was born and pray that his will be done and for his mercy and grace for a better 2021.

With love from our family to yours,

Ron & Cindy Parker

Smoking Candle from Saravanan Photo Art’s series Candle & Smoke.

Pine Forest Weymouth Woods SP NC 5211 photo by bobistraveling on flickr provided under terms of the CC BY 2.0 license.