Author: Pat Liberty

There were no Christmas carols. No “glorias” bounced off the rafters. No loud and wonderful organ rattled the windows. The Christmas Gospel was heard only in my head. There was no Christmas Eve church service with candle lighting. Christmas dinner was also non-existent. We exchanged no gifts. All the usual trappings of Christmas were replaced by the small ICU room with all its beeps and buzzes and tubes and wires. We, my sister and I, spent hours by our father’s side as he struggled to breathe through the blood clots in his lungs. Neither of us had much of an appetite so not having Christmas dinner was no loss. It would all be there next year.

When the cultural trappings of Christmas were ripped out from under me, I was left to seek Christmas in places not usually associated with the season. And my looking was not in vain. Christmas came in that dark ICU room again and again with each nurse, aide and doctor who came in to tend to my father. They were the embodiment of the promise of Christmas–Emmanuel, God with us. I felt the presence of God through them.

An aide came in with two large glasses of ice water for us. Her warm smile and caring eyes blessed the water and made it as holy as any water I have ever had. As we ate baked chicken from a bag, it was a kind of communion. We shared a common meal, and I felt the mystery and power of food to unite and comfort.

Christmas was everywhere. I didn’t have to look hard or far. Every moment was testimony to the promise that comes true in the Christmas season. The One who comes into the world shows us the way to God, counsels us to look for God in every time and place and reveals the boundless love of the One in whose image we are all created.

Christmas did not arrive in the noise, hustle and bustle. Christmas did not come in the boxes of beautifully decorated cookies. Christmas did not come with a fat guy in a red suit and a mythic story that has all but eclipsed the manger and the child.

Instead, Christmas came in quiet whispers, gentle touches and professional care by everyone who entered his room. Christmas came on the wings of uncertainty with the message, “Do not be afraid. I am with you.” Christmas slid in the back door and gently tapped me on the shoulder with a reminder of all that comes to pass in this blessed season.

Christmas is not an event. It is a way of life. Christmas is living with the conviction that God is indeed with us, within us and around us in every person, every living thing, in all creation. Incarnate means God is embodied in human flesh, not just Jesus, but all of us. Emmanuel– God with us– makes all of life and living holy.

These days are uncertain for my family. Then again, the times are uncertain for all of us. There is much that is broken in the world.  There are many places that need the indwelling presence of God to make them bearable. Christmas comes when we are given manifestations of Holy Presence in the midst of the life we are living. It is not a time set apart that begins and ends. It is time reshaped and given new meaning in every moment.

My prayer for you all is that you will know the quiet Christmas that slips in the back door and gently taps you on the shoulder. This Christmas comes in whispers of Presence, Peace, Joy and Love. You will have to look in unexpected places; but if you look, you will surely find.