For some of us, however, the activities of Christmas can feel like an intrusion. Day to day life is more or less put on hold by an urgent need to shop and wrap and plan. Chairs and tables are displaced by, of all things, a tree in the middle of our house. There is no time to do ordinary things, as everyday life is seriously disrupted for weeks on end. It can seem like a major interruption.
A few years ago, the truth of it hit me. This is what Christmas has been since the instant of
the Incarnation: an interruption. Please stay with me here, because
our first reaction to the word “interruption” could be negative. But
interruptions are often quite positive, and this Interruption was the
most positive of them all.
Think of it. Mary was living a quiet, hidden life. She was betrothed. Then one day an angel appeared to her, and with that Holy Interruption Mary’s life was changed forever. As was Joseph’s, as was yours, as was mine.
Think of it. Mary was living a quiet, hidden life. She was betrothed. Then one day an angel appeared to her, and with that Holy Interruption Mary’s life was changed forever. As was Joseph’s, as was yours, as was mine.
As we know, there was a Birth. There
were shepherds tending their flocks, and again an angel appeared. A
night of sheep-watching was interrupted.
While most of the world went on unaware, a few men in the east noticed something out of the ordinary. A sign in the sky. Something signaling, to them, a wondrous Interruption – one so marvelous that they must drop any other plans they had and go in haste, and they must bring gifts. These men were wise enough to know that somehow the world had changed, maybe even that the course of life on earth had been altered.
While most of the world went on unaware, a few men in the east noticed something out of the ordinary. A sign in the sky. Something signaling, to them, a wondrous Interruption – one so marvelous that they must drop any other plans they had and go in haste, and they must bring gifts. These men were wise enough to know that somehow the world had changed, maybe even that the course of life on earth had been altered.
The change was so shattering that
mankind took notice. Calendars would later mark the divide.
God Himself had split the heavens.
We now measure time by the before and after of that Grand Interruption, in effect saying that yes, we see. We may not understand, really, but we recognize the wonder and the mystery of it. God interrupted the cycle of sin and death by breaking into our world (John 3:16). Jesus broke into the flesh of man, shattering hopelessness with His power and mercy.
God Himself had split the heavens.
We now measure time by the before and after of that Grand Interruption, in effect saying that yes, we see. We may not understand, really, but we recognize the wonder and the mystery of it. God interrupted the cycle of sin and death by breaking into our world (John 3:16). Jesus broke into the flesh of man, shattering hopelessness with His power and mercy.
When I feel stressed by Christmas interruptions, I try to remember what I'm celebrating. Death was interrupted by Life. Despair was interrupted by Hope.
With His glorious interruption, God tore through the fabric of time.
This is a slightly edited version of a post from our archives
Paintings: Frederic James Shields, Annunciation
Blake, Ancient of Days
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