There is a building on the corner by our office that is in the process of being demolished. Every time I walk by, the street corner looks different. In place of a high-rise, I can now see another glimpse of the sky as the building comes down, floor by floor.
Change happens. Buildings are built and we imagine they will be there forever, and instead, decades later, there is a new space of sky. Babies are born. People pass away. An unexpected illness or a new love is suddenly present. Governments come and go. When I look at that building and now that vacant lot, I am reminded that change, more than anything else is our constant.
It would be easy to find all this overwhelming. Some days, when we are working hard to build political relationships, and then there is a sudden election, or a policy doesn’t take the path we expected, or perhaps a big team transition happens, I do find it a bit overwhelming. Especially when I’m not pleased with the change or see its damaging impact, I find it hard to greet change with celebration.
Yet, it is particularly that idea that change happens, that something new is right around the corner waiting to break through, that is at the heart of the Christmas story. For Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and wise men, the rulers of the time, and even the innkeeper, the Christmas narrative is a marking of profound, life altering change.
In many ways, when we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating change.
This year, we also celebrated 50 years of an MCC physical presence in Ottawa. From strangers supporting strangers through the creation of private refugee settlement to policy change over cake in East Jerusalem, our celebration was also a celebration of change breaking through.
As I reflect on all of these moments, it strikes me that, at Christmas, and in all of our celebrations, big and small, while we are celebrating change, we are also celebrating something much more profound and unchanging. We are celebrating that God is faithful and that love is an enduring and constant part of the story. The stories are less about the change itself and more about the ways we are invited to look for love and to be channels of love in a world of constant change.
Our best work over the past 50 years has happened when we have followed love, trusting in God’s faithfulness, not just to us, but to all of God’s children around the world, the global “us.” It has been in the moments when we worked with humility, unsure of the outcomes, but refusing to give into despair, and instead, asked how we could be used. Instead of fighting against change, we have experienced God at work, when we, like the people in the Christmas story, have asked what we have to offer during moments of change.
As we look at an unpredictable world, with many of the norms we thought were permanent, rapidly changing, this is the invitation I want to offer myself and all of us this Christmas season. Where do you see the thread of God’s constant love at work? Where are we being invited to show up with that same love amid this change? What can it look like this season to not only demonstrate love, but to celebrate that love, together, even when we are not sure where it will take us?
Despite uncertainty and change, good or bad, we are held by love. That love may show up differently then we expect, but it is there, holding us in the heartbreak and pointing to new openings in the sky. Let’s respond accordingly.