Hope of Christmas

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 The only dependable Christmas tradition we have in my family (besides getting presents) is watching The Muppet Christmas Carol. I lucked out in marrying Mark, because his family has the same tradition; it makes honoring family rituals a lot more concise.

I have been thinking, after watching it Christmas Eve, of how it tries to explain the concept of Christmas to Mr. Scrooge. There is a hint of religion in there, but mostly it defines Christmas as a loving time of year that does people good. Which is accurate, but not complete. As I thought of how I could distill Christmas into a concept, I hit upon Hope.

Hope covers the most basic understanding--a child's anticipation of gifts, say--while also holding up to philosophical scrutiny and religious study. Hope for the humanity of mankind, hope that things can become better, and lots of other examples, but I want to concentrate on one: the Hope of A Chance.

For many thousands of years, people have been born, and people have died. Amazingly, Hope is integral to both of these events; the fact of being born is a chance to do something in life, and the fact of death moves many to hope for something to continue afterward. God created Man [ie guys and girls], therefore we are born. God redeemed Man, therefore we have life after death. Obviously there is a lot more nuance in life, and before life, and after life, but at Christmastime, we focus on a simply profound idea: Christ came to give us a Chance. It was an absolutely-needed but totally-undeserved gift.

Even in a pandemic, even facing unemployment, even with health challenges, even with family stresses, I still can feel the Hope of Christmas

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