Christmas Under the Bridge

Happy Monday everyone!

It’s finally December. The month of sleigh rides, and silver bells, and flying reindeer. It’s time to bake delectable treats, wrap packages, sing carols, graze at buffet tables filled with delectable holiday treats.

Who’s excited?

I love Christmas. I love everything about it — from setting up the tree, to picking out gifts, to the smell of gingerbread baking. But with all the festivities, with all the hoopla of the season, it’s easy to lose track of the reason for it all. We’re talking about that this week at BelleView. In the midst of it all, how do we remember what Christmas is really all about? How do we continue to hold sacred the birth of God’s son in the form of a helpless baby? What do we do to prepare our hearts to receive anew the greatest gift of all?

One of the things that helps to clear away all the clutter of the season for me is our annual youth group trip to the Church Under the Bridge. Helping the kids to pack sack lunches, socks, blankets, and clothes to be handed out, and then worshiping with hundreds of people from all walks of life reminds me that Jesus came into the world as a homeless child, that every person is loved by God, that God puts needs in our path to see whether we’ve learned the lessons we’re taught in church each week, to see whether we can put it all into action. The church under the bridge reminds of me what is possible:

It’s possible for a group of kids to stop giggling, chatting, and playing on their cell phones long enough to pack boxes, and boxes and boxes of sack lunches, socks, clothes, and other goods.

It’s even possible for a group of goofballs like this to help (ignore those scraggly looking man-child beards. The No-shave November fundraiser at school has become no-shave December. It’s all for charity, honest… and the mamas are so thrilled.)

It’s possible for cutie-pies like this to whip those silly boys into shape and actually get some things done. Along with our youth group, we had members of the Interact student club. Those shirts say “What you do matters.” Teenagers get a bad wrap sometimes, but they have so much potential to make a difference in the world, and the best thing about them is that they’re convinced they can make a difference:

It’s possible for even the youngest and the smallest to stretch out a hand and touch another human soul. It’s possible for a grandmother, sorting through secondhand clothes for her granddaughter, to look up, and smile, and say, “See, I told you, God is good. God is so, so good.”

It’s possible for people from all walks of life to gather in the open air under a highway bridge while the world roars by overhead– to sing praise, and read scripture, and give thanks for a beautiful Sunday morning, for warm coats and warm food, for each other, and for the humble birth of the Savior of the World.

It’s possible, in this busy, bright, flashy, time-challenged season, to slow down, and catch a breath, and look around, and remember what Christmas is really all about.