Christmas Cheer!

“The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”  - Buddy (the Elf)

Christmas cheer is a special type of happiness. It’s something that exists only during this season. It lives in holiday drinks at Starbucks and holly, jolly Christmas songs. And as we gather together with family and friends, eat amazing food, and exchange presents, Christmas cheer fills up our homes.

Advent, however, is a season of waiting.  It’s a time where we intentionally practice waiting for Christ to come back and to bring light to the dark places of our lives and our world. Christmas cheer and advent don’t always seem like the most natural partners.

In the story of blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52), Jesus was leaving Jericho when a blind beggar named Bartimaeus cried out to Him, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” Over and over again he yelled for mercy and for healing. The crowds who were there, however, were annoyed by this blind beggar (as many of us might be) and told him to be quiet. But Jesus responded differently. He stopped and called Bartimaeus to come to Him.  The crowd, which seconds before had tried to silence Bartimaeus, now said, “Cheer up! On your feet. He is calling for you.” At the news of Jesus’ invitation, Bartimaeus threw off his cloak, ran to Jesus, and received the healing he so desperately wanted.

Cheer for Bartimaeus didn’t come in the form of peppermint lattes or gingerbread men (although they are delicious). Cheer came because Jesus was calling him. Jesus heard Bartimaeus’ cry for mercy and He invited him to come. What better reason for cheer than to be called by Jesus?

This Christmas, there are a couple of specific areas in my life and in the lives of my family and friends where I’m waiting for God to intervene and calling out to Him for mercy. As I wait on Him, I know He is calling me to himself. And it’s almost as if I can hear a crowd of people urging me on saying, “Cheer up, Mary Katherine. On your feet! He is calling you.”  Christ is calling me to trust Him more, to live in hope that He is coming again, and to be set free from selfishness and pride in my life.  How is calling you this season?

I hope you will wait with me this Christmas (waiting is so much easier when you do it with people you love). And I hope you will hear Christ calling you, and that you experience the true Christmas cheer of knowing Him. 

Pulling an MK

For my first real job out of college, I worked at a high-paced business software company. The hustle of working in the corporate world overwhelmed me at first and the pace of the office whirled by me much faster than any of my previous jobs (I had been making copies of cassette tapes for a radio ministry in college, so I guess the fact that the corporate world was faster paced than my past experience should not have been a surprise). I reported to five different bosses with lots of individual needs. I sent out 100s of emails a day and received twice as many back. There were constant interruptions. Everyone I worked with excelled at multi-tasking. And I eventually I got really good at it too. I became focused. I was efficient. And I took pride in my productivity.

I now work at a church and at busy times it is easy for me to slip back into a highly focused and efficient mode of working. Some of my friends at church reference this phenomenon as pulling an MK (that’s me!). I get focused on the tasks at hand to finish (getting ready for a retreat or a big banquet) and sometimes I’m seen as “all business” and very little fun. I still love getting stuff done and checking work off my to-do list but my fear is that during those times, I become so focused on the task at hand that I rush by people and their real needs. I wonder in my dash of efficiency and productivity if I miss out on things that are really important.

As we began Lent yesterday, it is easy to “pull an MK” and get distracted by all the tasks that we could do during these next forty days. In fact, most of the time when we talk about Lent, we focus on the things we will give up. How long do we have to fast for? What we will indulge in right before the fast begins and what we will enjoy right after the fast ends? These questions come up as we start Lent this week. Yet, if we spend the next forty days thinking only about what we are giving up, we will miss out on the goodness of the season. If we “pull an MK” and rush to be efficient and productive in this season, we will miss the wonder of seeing Christ.

“’Even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.’ Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.” Joel 2:12-13

During Lent, we are not invited to return to sacrifice, to return to ritual, or even to return to church. It’s a time to return to God with our whole selves. God is not asking us to mark off the next forty days of our life as if in a prison cell of no chocolate and caffeine. It is our hearts and not our sacrifice that He desires. It is us, and not the tasks we complete that He wants. And the things that He leads us to give up (or add) during this time are not the goal of Lent. Christ is the goal. We follow His leading of sacrifice in order to see Him more clearly. To experience His grace and His compassion. And to encounter our God who is slow to anger (not rushing around trying to break us of our bad habits) and abounding in love. In Lent we return to God with all that we have and we find in Christ everything. So as I meet and challenge my own desire to "pull an MK" this Lent, I pray for all of us that in the midst of this season we will return to God with our whole hearts and see Christ.