Christmas is not a time of joy for everyone. Many only experience their brokenness more intensely at this season. Brokenness is something we never finish dealing with in this life: whether it’s about lost loved ones (by death or by estrangement), our separation from friends or from more favorable life circumstances, broken family circles that can never be complete again in this world, etc. Distances (whether physical or emotional) can truly break our hearts, and sometimes our brokenness dates back to trauma or woundedness from childhood or youth … All the disillusionments of life can turn Christmas into a time of depression, anxiety, and loneliness for many.
Yet our Creator came to earth precisely so that He could walk beside us in all these troubles. John’s Gospel says that “He came to His own, and His own received Him not” (Jn. 1:10) – but He never let that rejection deter Him from His mission: as our Advocate and Comforter, as our Priest and Intercessor. These are the roles we want to explore today as we think about how the incarnation speaks to the problem of our world’s brokenness and pain.
Christmas is not a time of joy for everyone. Many only experience their brokenness more intensely at this season. Brokenness is something we never finish dealing with in this life: whether it’s about lost loved ones (by death or by estrangement), our separation from friends or from more favorable life circumstances, broken family circles that can never be complete again in this world, etc. Distances (whether physical or emotional) can truly break our hearts, and sometimes our brokenness dates back to trauma or woundedness from childhood or youth … All the disillusionments of life can turn Christmas into a time of depression, anxiety, and loneliness for many.
Yet our Creator came to earth precisely so that He could walk beside us in all these troubles. John’s Gospel says that “He came to His own, and His own received Him not” (Jn. 1:10) – but He never let that rejection deter Him from His mission: as our Advocate and Comforter, as our Priest and Intercessor. These are the roles we want to explore today as we think about how the incarnation speaks to the problem of our world’s brokenness and pain.
