Presence Weekly 12/24/2024, "Christmas Eve Choas, Best Efforts, and True Power"

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Stunning Chaos and Order of Christmas Eve

It’s Christmas Eve. Things are winding down, and families are gathering together. 

Late Friday night, after a chaotic scramble, power plays, and political theater, the House of Representatives voted to approve a stopgap spending bill to keep the Federal government open until March. Congratulations would be in order if, rather than actually doing the hard work of passing as a full budget, this kick-the-can action wasn’t all they could manage. The drama that frequently plays out on the Hill is indicative of a Congressional approval rating of around 16%.

However, soon after their vote, senators, representatives, and their staffers made it to the exits to head home until the next Congress is sworn in. Federal offices will close for Christmas and New Year’s, and most political appointees in the Cabinet Agencies will be on a very light schedule until January 20th. 

On the one hand, much of Washington is shutting down for a couple of weeks. Many people with titles and credentials have left the chaos behind to enjoy an extended period of rest. On the other hand, critical government services continue unhindered, relying on largely hourly workers, as other similarly positioned people in non-government jobs work so that we can dine out and enjoy a show.

This perspective is essential for understanding the passage that will be read at so many Christmas Eve Services this year.

We all know the story. As Mary and Joseph arrived in a chaotic Bethlehem, overwhelmed with a surge of census-motivated travelers looking for somewhere to stay, there was no room at the inn. The lodging was, for lack of a better term, the livestock barn. What was occurring in this chaotic small town was undetectable to almost everyone who encountered the desperate couple. But in the midst of all that chaos,

“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.”

The Incarnation and Chaos

To really appreciate this event, one must make sense of the first eight verses. These verses should take the breath away from everyone who reads them. The child who was about to be born during a chaotic time to a scandalously pregnant woman, in unsanitary conditions, and in a mess of confusion, blood, and pain was best described with these words:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Consider those words. Jesus went from the presence of God, where he had participated in creating all things out of nothing, to a chaotic town in occupied Israel. Why? Because“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

It is nearly impossible to reconcile the scene of what just happened in Washington with the culmination of Advent, the Incarnation.

The Public Square and Chaos

What we must understand is that the public square often reflects the best attempts at proximate restoration available by the people who are able and willing. While some want to get home for Christmas to enjoy a vacation, others are working hard to do the most good for the most people. 

There is a sense in which, in the midst of constant chaos, servants and leaders in Washington who work on the Hill, in Cabinet and sub-cabinet agencies, in think tanks, policy centers, lobbying firms, and as government contractors are following Christ’s mission of making all things new. Their calling to public service has, at its heart, a desire to bless people and ease their burdens. Many are in a position to release people from oppression, restore health, provide safety, feed the hungry, and alleviate poverty. In that, we should thank them for their work. But, most of the work of those in the public square is unseen and unheralded. 

However, they are all humans, and they are, therefore, limited in what they can accomplish, even with their best efforts. 

The Gospel and Chaos

On this night two millennia ago, Bethlehem was chaotic. By contrast to what everyone was experiencing, the Father and the Son, though unseen, were actively at work in a chaotic situation to fulfill the promises of redemption made through the Old Testament. 

The birth of Christ was the outworking of God’s promise from the beginning of the Creation story to make everything right. In their sin, Adam and Eve lost their home in the Garden but also lost their ability to dwell in the presence of God. He was no longer with them. Because of the Fall, their sin would cause all manner of strife and, ultimately, death. The rest of the Old Testament tells the story of the people’s continued promises to obey, coupled with their nearly immediate failures to do so.

Over the next thirty-some years, God would re-dwell with man. During the Incarnation, Jesus would encourage the good, restore the broken, create the missing, and oppose the evil. Unlike even the best of our servants and leaders in the public square, Christ was always successful in every single initiative he undertook. People were fed, healed, released from oppression, reconciled, reassured, and even resurrected.

The Incarnation makes one thing clear: Jesus is the ultimate “highly-credentialed-essential-worker,” and he is never in a hurry to take a vacation. As the Son of God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and the Creator of all things, Jesus has always been and will always be at work. Further, nothing is outside of his restorative and redemptive power. 

What this means for all of us is that this Christmas, in the midst of the chaos we may experience at home, in our workplaces, or even through the public square, our best hope for a healthy, prosperous, and joyful 2025 is ultimately not provided through the work of servants and leaders in the public square but through the work of Jesus described by John: 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

May you experience glad tidings of great Joy this Christmas.

Merry Christmas from all of us at Faithful Presence

• Cabinet Agency: The wonderful folks at NORAD (Defense) who help keep our country safe and make time to provide real-time Santa tracking, and the servants and leaders at the United States Postal Service, who we rely on to bring those last-minute Christmas cards and gifts. 
• Think Tank, Lobby group, NGO: The advocacy staff of the National Retail Association who “passionately advocates for the people, policies, and ideas that help retail thrive. For over a century, NRF has been a voice for every retailer and every retail job, educating, inspiring, and communicating the powerful impact retail has on local communities and global economies.”
• Weekly delegation: The congressional delegation from Alaska, a state that includes the small town of North Pole. 
• News: Continuing prayer for members of President-elect Trump’s Executive Branch transition teams and the outgoing staff of the Biden administration. For all the workers at the FAA over the holidays.
• Personal requests: For many who are traveling. For two individuals waiting to hear back on Presidential (Senate-confirmed) and political appointments. For two families overseas who are unable to return for Christmas. For several who are mourning the loss of loved ones this Christmas. For the emotional trauma that Christmas will bring for at least one person.

• Read this first → Mere Orthodoxy has a must-read, Pain at Christmas.
• Listen to this first → Many years ago, Tim Keller preached an Advent message on Colossians 1:15-20 that so eloquently makes a point of today's devotional. 
• Comment Magazine’s Anne Snyder has a vitally important essay, “Weary for Grace,” on how our current cultural moment can politicize forgiveness and why that makes forgiveness courageous. 
• The New York Times has Ross Douthat’s latest piece, which was oddly comforting, “Religion Has Been in Decline. This Christmas Seems Different.”
• The Gospel Coalition has a great piece by a young college student, Ben LeBlanc, “I Believe Miracles Are Possible. So Why Don’t I Expect Them?”
• The C.S. Lewis Institute’s Teaching Fellow, Jim Phillips, has a delightfully thought-provoking piece that asks, “What About Jesus’s Childhood?”

• Even think-tank and policy folks take a holiday during the Christmas break. 
• Happily Ever Exploring has a nice list of things to do in Washington between Christmas and New Year’s. 
• The Smithsonian Museums are open every day except December 25th. 
• Daily through December 29, The Washington Ballet is performing The Nutcracker! At Warner Theater. “This D.C.-themed production features dancing cherry blossoms, cardinals, and famous figures like Betsy Ross, Harriet Tubman, and George Washington as the Nutcracker.”
• Daily through December 31, Ford’s Theater is presenting “Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.”
• Daily through December 31, The Puppet Company hosts their 36th annual The Nutcracker! “This time-honored seasonal celebration includes Tchaikovsky's familiar story of Clara and her prince, with some Puppet Co. nursery rhyme spin.”

Perhaps more than any other of the five-star Christmas films, It’s A Wonderful Life attempts to depict the continuous involvement of God in the world, why prayer is always the most you can do but rarely all you should do, and the limits of mortal man to do the most good for the most people,

My favorite part of “It’s A Wonderful Life” is that despite all his frailties and fragilities, George Baily is presented as a hardworking, engaged, loving, family man rather than the more recently divorced, distant, and disinterested main character who desperately needs a character check.

Following the narrative arc of George Bailey’s seemingly unimportant life in Bedford Falls through the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and the stateside impact of World War II, Frank Capra’s classic (best in black & white) invites the audience to embrace the hopes and monotony of life, laid against the constant fear that you are failing. In that way, George Bailey becomes a metaphor for all of our lives. Like George, our finiteness means that we face each day, one at a time, never knowing what the next day holds, but always aware of how other people seem to be doing compared to us. We have agency, but rarely the full measure desired to accomplish the goals we have set for ourselves.

The movie makes me wonder if we should replace the “WWJD?” situational evaluation with the more helpful and accessible “WWGBD” (What would George Bailey Do?).