Advent Guide: The Wonder of ChristmasSample

We Didn't Know Who You Were

I love to sit in the glow of my Christmas tree, but dragging out all the decorations feels like a chore. I'm one of those people who starts listening to Christmas music way too early – until I've heard the same songs so many times my ears ache for anything else. My calendar is full, but I'm genuinely trying to be still enough to consider the miracle of Jesus' Birth. Each year, the Christmas season feels like an experiment in contrasting circumstances.

Mahalia Jackson's Christmas album includes the song, "Sweet Little Jesus Boy." Written in the style of a spiritual, it includes these lyrics:

The world treats you mean Lord

Treats me mean too

But that's how things are down here

We didn't know it was you

A victim of someone else's sin and cruelty is saying to Jesus that we all didn't realize who He was.

Jesus is the Light in the darkness for those who have been victimized, abandoned, or abused. That Light is also for those who have victimized, abandoned, or abused someone else.

Hard to swallow, isn't it? That's what makes this Light completely different from any form of goodness that we can muster up. Jesus' Redemptive and Restorative Presence is infinitely better than our ability to show goodness, kindness, or love. The Light is truly for any sinner who believes.

We can't prevent or dispel the darkness ourselves, but we can know and share the Light who does.

Susan Williams Simmons has worked at Buckner for almost 17 Christmases. One of her favorite Christmas memories is getting to lead a Christmas mission trip to Peru. Her family all got alpaca sweaters for Christmas that year, even though alpaca wool is too warm for a bunch of Texans.