Will You Embrace the Holidays With Grace and Mercy?

The ugly political campaigning has ended but the holiday commercials have begun.  I am asking questions in this blog that I hope you will ask yourself.  What are we embracing during this season?  Are we extending grace and mercy to everyone around us?  First we must understand that not everyone will be celebrating this year.  Maybe they are suffering great personal loss either in finances, health or death of a loved one.

What Are You Embracing?

I watched the Christmas crawl begin in August.  Boxes with glittery ornaments sat high on shelves above the fall decor.  Many people cannot wait for the Halloween craziness to be over and they start talking about Christmas decorating, trees and shopping.  As Charlie Brown exclaimed, “Doesn’t anyone know what Christmas is really about?”  I am certainly not saying decorating and enjoying a feast is wrong but I am asking what are our priorities?

To embrace something literally means to encircle or hug.  But secondly means to take up especially readily or gladly, to avail oneself or welcome and to take in or include as a part, item, or element of a more inclusive whole.  Do we celebrate THE WHOLE package of the holidays?  Or are we focused on only our four senses?

 

 

Holidays And Real People

Traditionally all major holidays were celebrated with family and close friends…even the ones we didn’t like.  I am sure you have watched Chevy Chase’s “Christmas Vacation”  which portrays the extremes of  high expectations and disastrous results. How is grace displayed in your home?  Can you show mercy and love despite the rudeness of company or strangers?  Unfortunately American holidays often bring stress and short tempers. How will you respond in difficult situations?

But the holidays provide us many opportunities to share God’s love and hope.  The first Thanksgiving dinner was celebrated with gratitude for surviving!  They all lost family members and the comfort of their old homes but they praised God and shared what food they had.  The Pilgrims looked forward to an uncertain future with great hope.  How did Jesus deal with relatives and strangers?  

 

 

   Romans 5:8   ..but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Ephesians 1:7      In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

 

 

Showing Grace

We all want God’s grace.  Miriam Webster simplifies it to, “help or kindness that God gives or shows to people”.  The dictionary also states that it is  a set of “skills that are needed for behaving in a polite way in social situations”.  A skill is something that is learned and needs to be practiced.  Our society really needs grace!   Start each day in prayer to respond well to the stuff we may face.  How can we show God’s abundant forgiveness, kindness, love and patience?  Sometimes it starts by biting our tongue!   Often it will mean going out of our way. God’s grace goes far beyond our human understanding.

 

How Does Mercy Fit In?

Mercy in the dictionary is defined as kind or forgiving treatment of someone who could be treated harshly. Or a kindness or help given to people who are in a very bad or desperate situation.   Begin each day with prayer for strength and so we “turn the other cheek” and  respond in kindness?  Most of us might throw some coins in the kettle to help the poor. Do we do it to feel good about ourselves or to help a bigger cause?  Together, grace and mercy emphasize God’s love and the transformative power available to believers through faith.

 

A Picture of God’s Grace and Mercy

We often overlook God’s mercy toward us because we think we are pretty good and so did the Pharisees in Jesus’ day.  He told parables to teach truth.  The Prodigal Son insulted his father by claimimg his inheititance before the father was dead.  He then went and blew it all on a  lavish and very temporary lifestyle.  He became so destitute he got a job feeding pigs and was so hungry he ate their slop. Imagine how horrified the religious leaders were at this story.  The son decided to crawl back home and beg to be treated as a slave in exchnage for food and shelter.  The Father loved his son and was heart broken. He waited and watched every day to see if his son would return.  He caught a glimpse of this lost son coming over the horizon and ran to him crying.

 

Luke 15:23–24    And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.  For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

 

This is how much God loves us.  No matter where we have been or what we have done.  We need to do the same by showing compassion, kindness, forgiveness, patience and love. God wants many more to come celebrate the real meaning of the season.