In so many ways Christmas Day is a day of new beginnings. People from all walks of life are looking for the miracle of this birth and what it will bring. Christmas is indeed a time to look to the future. To something the world “out there” cannot give us.
The hope in the Christmas story is that this is a story that is relevant to our everyday life today. For this we need to be reminded that the babe in the manger became a man and brought the hope of the newborn to the real world in a real way. This is our hope today; as Christmas came to the people in Bethlehem so long ago, Christmas comes to us this year, too. It comes into an imperfect world. It comes into our imperfect lives.
At the heart of the Christmas story, what we truly have to look forward to and get excited about is hearing again the story of the Saviour’s birth. The story of the birth of hope. The story of the birth of the light that is to guide our way through life.
Lord God, may our hearts be warmed to the hope this story brings to our lives. May the presence and loving mystery of Jesus himself be reborn in our lives again. Amen. — JKU