Pressure

I love the Advent season.  The church gets decorated and looks quite beautiful.  I enjoy the parties.  I like Advent readings.  I like listening to Handel's Messiah.  The feasting isn't so bad either.  I like poinsettias too. I really enjoy going to the grocery store this time of year.  It feels like a big party.
Two things about this time of year I do not like.  Both of these have to do with my job.
First, folks really struggle with their families this time of year.  Lots of pressure, conflict, unmet expectations and bad memories.  How to navigate these family gatherings is a very big deal, especially if you throw in a little alcohol. We really need a lot of grace this time of year to deal with all of that.  My appointment calendar is full of folks needing to talk and pray through these issues. This side of glory, some of them will never get fully resolved.
Second, more than anytime except Easter Sunday, I feel great pressure to perform in my public ministry.  I think people come to the services with expectations to feel something or experience something unusual.  They want to feel loved and warmed and reassured that everything will be OK.  Alot of this has to do, I think, with memories of childhood.  They remember,   even if subconsciously something wonderful from their childhood and they want that same experience.  Or they have impossible expectations.
Some folks really grieve this time of year because they miss people they love.  Some people feel their singleness (thanks jewelry commercials) in profound ways. Some people have idealized expectations that go unmet.  This is especially hard when we hear 'tidings of great joy', 'peace on earth, goodwill to men', and it seems like we missed it.  We just feel sad and  anxious ; it seems our lives suck, while everyone else is having a great time. 
I remember driving to NC on Christmas morning in 1989.  We had lost our first born in September.  We had anticipated this being a joyful Christmas.  We were listening to Christmas music and we just wept and wept.

So... we come to church and have the expectation that something great will happen.  Why do you think there are all those myths about Christmas miracles?  Bells ringing totally on their own, healings, angelic appearances to desperate people. etc.
The truth is everything is going to be better than OK.  Jesus came. 

"no more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground.  He comes to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found..."

However, before this is fully realized babies will be slaughtered in Bethlehem, the holy family will sojourn in Egypt.  A sword will pierce Mary's soul and the baby will grow up and die as a rejected Messiah upon a cross.

And yet, He rose.

Here is the rub.  No Christmas celebration will bring heaven to us.  We still live in a fallen and broken place.  But we celebrate the promise that because Jesus came, renewal is happening and coming.  Our celebration is not of final joy, but the joy of a hope that will never fail and is coming in its fullness.

So one day, I will feel better.  I will be resolved with my family.  All my needs will will more than be met and I will know love like never before.
So  pray for me, that I will not give in to the pressure. That I would faithfully point people a real hope, that the gospel would be clear to me and not cluttered by the trappings of the Season