12-22-09
How to Love Your Family at Christmas
Most of us won't walk into an environment as openly violent as the one Jesus was born into--where a homicidal king slaughtered infants to try and eliminate Him. But we will go into places of violence and darkness nonetheless--for many of us, around the dinner table! And in the same way the Prince of Peace was born into a world of hate, God wants the Prince of Peace to arrive into the real-life, complex world of your family! And he wants to send you as His ambassador this Christmas.
While for many of us this is the best opportunity all year long to represent the peace of Jesus to our families, it is also the time where we are the least spiritually prepared. So this Sunday, we offered a handful of practical resources to help you navigate the complexities of family time well. Remember, you aren't ambling into those opportunities, you are being sent. It is possible to go into them prepared by the presence and Spirit of God, so that you don't "need" anything from them--you are ready only to serve and honor your family (no matter how you are treated). As a reminder for those of you going into these scenarios, here is a brief recap of those points. It's only a sketch, so to hear these ideas expanded and explained, click here.
The four crucial ideas, followed by the prayer of Francis of Assissi (a great one to pray before you go!):
While for many of us this is the best opportunity all year long to represent the peace of Jesus to our families, it is also the time where we are the least spiritually prepared. So this Sunday, we offered a handful of practical resources to help you navigate the complexities of family time well. Remember, you aren't ambling into those opportunities, you are being sent. It is possible to go into them prepared by the presence and Spirit of God, so that you don't "need" anything from them--you are ready only to serve and honor your family (no matter how you are treated). As a reminder for those of you going into these scenarios, here is a brief recap of those points. It's only a sketch, so to hear these ideas expanded and explained, click here.
The four crucial ideas, followed by the prayer of Francis of Assissi (a great one to pray before you go!):
1. Pray BEFORE you get there.
2. Go in the confidence that you are bringing the presence of God with you.
3. Stay out of the fray. (And remember--the wrong spirit can say the right thing!)
4. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit to know when to speak--and when to hold your tongue.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
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