Joy unearned, unbounded

Now it’s done. Now He’s here. The weeks of Advent have brought us to a state of joyful readiness. We have prayed and sung, shopped and decorated, stressed and dressed. Grace fills the gaps in our preparation.

Christmas follows Advent as a gift we receive by God’s love. Easter, while glorious, can feel like a reward after the disciplines of Lent. Good things come after we work for them. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress,” said Frederick Doug-lass, the 19th century civil rights pioneer. While true in human affairs, God’s love falls on us unearned at Christmas. One would be hard-pressed to argue that human history up to Christ’s birth was a record of merit and justice. We didn’t earn the Savior; He came as God’s presence.

In a production of “A Christ-mas Carol” by Charles Dickens at the Bardovan Theater in Poughkeepsie, the actor playing Scrooge jumped up and down in glee on Christmas as he cancelled debts and gave presents to astonished servants and merchants. “He had never dreamed,” writes Dickens, “that anything could give him so much happiness.” So too are we with Christ among us.

(12/24/09)