A LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.COM PUBLICATION
2015 Worship Guide
Page 13
The most wonder-filled
time of the year
Christmas is a season of love. A season of
miracles. A season for giving. These are the
things that make it the most wonderful time of
the year.
At least that’s what we hear when we binge-
watch too many Hallmark Channel holiday
movies. You know the ones I’m talking about,
right? It all starts with a mismatched couple
in a doomed relationship. As the plot unfolds
a new love interest appears and a whirlwind
romance ensues often involving a visit to a tree
lot or an ice skating rink or a magical sage-like
Santa Claus. About an hour and a half into the
two hour presentation a complication arises
that threatens to derail any hope for lasting
happiness. But, thanks to creative script-
writers, the difficulty is somehow overcome
and they reunite, kiss, and commence their
happily ever after as the Christmas snow falls
and the credits roll. The actors, characters,
and a few of the details change, but apart from
that most of these shows are cut from the same
Christmas cookie cutter.
Lest I be unfairly labeled a cynic or Scrooge,
I must confess that my wife and I enjoy these
sappy sweet tales. They can be a welcome
escape from the brutality of life. But it seems
lately that the brutality is winning. Just a
couple of days ago it was a mass shooting in
San Bernardino. Last month a terror strike
in Paris inspired people to fly the colors of
the French flag on their Facebook profiles. A
few years ago it was scenes of the bodies of
children being removed from Sandy Hook
Elementary School. This never-ending
succession of violence leads me to believe
that by the time you are reading these words
some new tragedy will have bumped California
from the spotlight. I hate to say we are
growing numb, but I’m afraid we can’t keep
up emotionally with the pace of the atrocities.
There don’t seem to be enough tears to go
around.
And if these acts aren’t tragic and senseless
enough life has been brutal in another way for
some people who are very close to my heart.
Just days ago I sat in a crowded overflow
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Lincoln Church of the Nazarene
