Moved into the neighborhood. I love that phrase. I think of it often. Imagine if Jesus lived next door. I would love it if I could talk to him face to face over the fence. Do you think he would get annoyed with us? We're not always very good neighbors. We never clean up our leaves. I wonder if the most commonly requested miracle around the neighborhood would be melting the snow on the driveways and sidewalks? Probably not. We need Jesus for so much more than that. Cancer, disease, sick children, infertility, miscarriages, hard hearts, broken marriages, abuse and dysfunction. Yes, we need Jesus for so much more than for driveways and sidewalks.
Yesterday was my favorite day of the entire year. It was the Sunday before Christmas. The Christmas candlelight service. Our whole church loves it. It's a time where we come together as a church and celebrate when Jesus moved into the neighborhood. It's not just about the performances, or the Christmas carols, or the songs, or even the candles. It's about the presence of God that settles on us when we're together and the love we feel for one another. I got up extra early that morning so that I could have plenty of time to do the extra things that I never have time to do. But as usual, time got away from me and before I knew it, I was running behind. And my girls were dawdling, and my son was sitting on the heat vent in his pj's refusing to move, and my husband was starting to yell. And here we are, on the best day of the year, just the same old mess that we are every other day. And I snap and say mean things and Matt answers back with mean things and I threaten to cancel the whole day. We had just had a wonderful family day the day before, and this was supposed to be the pinnacle of Christmas time, and my family was ruining it...and I was ruining it.
The thing about Christmas is that's when Jesus moved into the neighborhood. But, the thing about Easter is Jesus doesn't just live in the neighborhood anymore, He's moved into our very hearts. In that moment of frustration with my family, I pushed Jesus out of my heart and I said, "I matter most. This day is about me and my desires, so you all better shape up!"
Apologies and forgiveness took place in the van on the way to church. I'm grateful for how quickly my family forgives me. I'm also grateful for a church that I can walk into, knowing full well what kind of morning we've had, and still be loved and accepted. I don't have to hide it. I can openly cry tears over my sin in a service where I am reminded that we live in a war zone. Not just a war "out there" somewhere, but a war right in my very own heart. The heart where Jesus lives. And after the service, the dear woman sitting next to me playfully offers me her sleeve to dry my tears. And the woman on the other side of us is mopping up her tears as well, and she looks at me with no shame and says, "It got you too, huh?"
I am not ashamed to admit that I am in desperate need of Jesus. I am a mess. My family is a mess. And, whether you want to admit it or not, you're a mess too. We are all in desperate need of Jesus to move into the neighborhood of our hearts. And that my friends, is what Christmas is really about. My family does not have it all together this Christmas and neither does yours, but God is changing us and making us more like His Son, in His time and in His way.
Praying that Jesus moves into the neighborhood of your heart this Christmas. Much love, from my family to yours!
