I was sitting at a table with my sister, a younger friend, and four older ladies at the ladies’ Christmas party at my church, and being much more of a listener than a talker, I enjoyed hearing the older ladies swapping accounts of holiday life.
There was talk of Thanksgiving and how their meals had gone. One of the ladies said she had made ham and turkey, but none of the kids would touch the turkey so she and her husband had been eating turkey soup all week. Another spoke quite animatedly of the different food choices of the younger generation in her family, particularly the stuffing made of rice and cherries. “It was good,” she said. “But it wasn’t Thanksgiving.” The consensus among all, though, was that having their family close was what mattered most.
As time went on, the conversation strayed into one of the ladies describing her husband’s dozing in his chair at night while trying to watch the news. “Why don’t you just go to bed?” She had asked, but no. He had to see the news. “He records it,” she said dramatically. Another lady commented that her husband is the same way. She doesn’t care for all the bad news and would rather turn it off, but her husband can’t miss knowing what’s going on.
And that is when the subject of Hallmark movies arose, presented as a reprieve from the heaviness and darkness of life in the world. She and her husband, one of the ladies said, turn one on and point out almost immediately who’s going to get married and then about an hour in, they’ve both fallen asleep. They don’t know how any of the movies end, but, still, they are nice to watch. Another of the ladies began listing things you can always expect—small towns, Christmas lights, etc. The point was, yes, they’re predictable, but isn’t that the charm? In a world full of problems, disappointments, and evil, we can always depend upon a Hallmark movie to give us warm vibes and a happy ending (but not always a Christian worldview, the ladies emphasized with a whole discussion on the ways Hallmark has strayed and forgotten its audience, which networks have stepped up to continue the wholesome tradition, and the admonition not to watch Hallmark movies from 2023).
I listened with fascination to these ladies’ perspectives. As someone who is not a big Hallmark fan myself (though I do enjoy the occasional one with the girls), I found their reasoning compelling. I could understand why they appreciate them, and I love that they can enjoy them so much.
It has made me think about the hopes and expectations that we have at Christmas. So much of the Christmas culture we have created is an expression of what we long for. We long for home, and we bake cookies and sing carols with our families. We long for goodness, and we give to those in need. We long for beauty, and we deck the halls and light the trees. We long for love, and we give ourselves stories where people find it under the mistletoe in a flash of time. We long for wholeness, and we submerge our pain in warm, fuzzy music. We long for the supernatural, and—voila—Santa Claus! We long for joy, and we laugh our way through parties and snowflake-themed adventures. We long for the happy endings, and we hope—because, deep down, we know there really ought to be a better world than this, and at Christmas time, the possibility glitters so close it feels like we can almost reach out and grab it.
And even the worst of times—when all our hopes lie shattered, exposed and empty on their own—highlights the fact that we expect something better of Christmas. The longings we have don’t die because our expectations have not been met. Even when we try to shush them with cynicism or a cool aloofness, the longings persist under the surface, throbbing through us.
I appreciate the way the song “My Grown-Up Christmas List” expresses so honestly the ache of life and the longing we have for a perfect world.
My Grown-Up Christmas List
by David Foster and Linda Thompson-Jenner
Do you remember me?
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies
Well, I’m all grown-up now
Can you still help somehow?
I’m not a child
But my heart still can dream
So here’s my lifelong wish
My grown-up Christmas list
Not for myself
But for a world in need
No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
Every man would have a friend
That right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list
As children, we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath our tree
But heaven only knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal
A hurting human soul
No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
Every man would have a friend
That right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list
What is this illusion called
The innocence of youth?
Maybe only in our blind belief
Can we ever find the truth
There’d be
No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
Every man would have a friend
That right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list
This is my only lifelong wish
This is my grown-up Christmas list
It is incredible to me that the expression of our deepest longings culminates and swells with the blended voices of humanity at Christmas, the very occasion that God answered it—ages before we were even born. Christmas is both the expression of our longings and the memory of God’s answer: Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the one who saves us from our sins: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins,” (Matthew 1:21).
Jesus is the one who heals our broken hearts: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified,” (Isaiah 61:1-3).
Jesus is the one who is always good: “Behold the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In His days, Judah will be saved, and Isarel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: The LORD is our righteousness,” (Jeremiah 23:5-6).
Jesus is the one who is beauty itself: “In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people, and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate,” (Isaiah 28:5-6).
Jesus is the one who loves us most: “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you,” (Isaiah 54:10).
Jesus is the supernatural one we long for, God with us: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end,” (Luke 1:30b-33).
“‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel,’ (which means, God with us),” (Matthew 1:23).
Jesus is the one who gives joy: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore,” (Psalm 16:11).
Jesus is the one who gives the happiest of endings and an eternal home: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, or crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my Son,’” (Revelation 21:1-7).
The dreams we dream about Christmas in Christmas lights and gifts and carols and stories contain little glimmers of God’s goodness, little hints of what our hearts most long for, little foreshadowings of every promise fulfilled in Christ. Blessings to enjoy, blessings to share.
And yet these small beauties and hopeful days are nothing without Him. It isn’t enough to hide from the brokenness of the world in all the heartwarming Christmas feels. If that’s all we do, we miss the whole point of Christmas:
Jesus comes to redeem.
When Jesus came, He came for us first, making new creations of those who believe: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come,” (2 Cor. 5:17). In Christ, we are being remade in His likeness, being made clean, being made whole. We may not live in a perfect world yet, but we take refuge in the perfection of our God, full of hope. And when Jesus comes again, He will make a new earth where there is no sin and no curse. For those who follow Him, the longings of our heart will be perfectly and finally met: “No more lives torn apart … wars will never start, [He] will heal our hearts [and our bodies!]. [He will be our] friend, and right will [finally] win, and love will never end.”
It is in Jesus Christ, the first and greatest gift of Christmas, that our hope truly lies. He is the Joy. He is the Light. He is the Savior.
So as we savor the little joys of Christmas as a reprieve from the darkness in the world, let’s not forget to lift our hearts to heaven, singing with the angels, “Glory to God in the highest” for the first and greatest Joy that will always be ours.
Joy to the World
by Isaac Watts
Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.
Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
Prayer
Father, thank you for grieving the death that sin brought into the world. Thank you for loving us through it. Thank you for sending Your Son to begin to make all things new. Thank you for the work Your Spirit is doing in the world of reconciling people to Yourself through the sacrifice of Christ. You have made us new in Him, and You are still making us new in Him. I love that You chose to make us new first, before You make the sinless earth that we destroyed new. It’s not something that we deserve. It is Your beautiful grace and abundant love. And it shows us that we are very dear to You.
Thank you for Christmas. Thank You for knowing what our longings would be and fulfilling them perfectly in Christ long before we were born. May we rejoice in the gift of a Savior this season and comfort ourselves in the promise of a new and perfect world to come. Most of all, we are grateful for your eternal, enduring love. Amen.
Hymns to Sing
- “Joy to the World” by Isaac Watts
- “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” translated from Latin by John Mason Neale and Henry Sloane Coffin
- “O Little Town of Bethlehem” by Phillips Brooks
Gratefully His 