And Mary said,
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour
on the lowliness of his servant.

Mary's song of joy rings out through the ages of history. She is filled with delight at the news that she has been so blessed by God, to be chosen as the mother to whom the Son of God will soon be born.

So we, too, are filled with joy and anticipation as the weeks before Christmas go by, the festivities go on, and the preparations for Christmas are made.

Well, aren't we?

A few years ago, a close family friend died just the week before Christmas, after a long illness. I found myself thinking about how much his family's Christmas that year and all future years would be affected by his death at that particular time. After all, Christmas is always supposed to be a joyful time, a family time, a time of rejoicing, of gift giving, and having fun. A time for the celebration of life and hope.

Most of us have somehow grown up with the distinct feeling that there is no place for sadness in this Christian festival, and that we are somehow missing something vital if we are not able to manufacture that spirit of joyfulness and "Christmas spirit" that we think should predominate. For many people, Christmas is frequently a sad disappointment, because unrealistic expectations we have built up for ourselves are not met.

How far we have travelled from the first Christmas! For Mary, even in the birth of this child, this Son of God, there was sadness, for over the manger stood the shadow of a cross. Mixed with her expression of joy at his birth is her knowledge that this child would save his people from their sins. I think she knew even then, that his life would not be easy, that there was suffering ahead. I suspect that a dark sense of foreboding may have accompanied the happiness she experienced at his birth.

The Christmas story is the story of God entering fully into the human condition, out of love. It was never all happiness. Human suffering and grief have been part of it all since the beginning. The joy that is Christmas is not all "cheery". Rather, it is a joy that sustains us through every human circumstance. It is the joy of knowing Jesus as a friend who always stands with us, as one of us. For Christians, because of Christmas and because of the cross, there is no sadness or suffering that is not known or understood by the God who loved us so much that he gave his only Son to suffer with us and then to die for us.

Prayer: Eternal God, we thank you for the birth of your Son Jesus. Fill us this day with the knowledge that he walks with each one of us, as a Friend and as a Saviour. May we be sustained and lifted up by the knowledge that we are never alone. When we cannot be filled with the happiness and joy that is expected at Christmas, may we find comfort in knowing that we are understood and cherished beyond measure. Amen.

Somewhere back in my treasury of memories is a mental picture of myself at about age 21 or 22, a student at what was then Ewart College in Toronto, Ontario. I was away from home for the first time, and had looked forward to my first visit home for Christmas. I packed two suitcases and one shoulder bag, small enough to carry on the plane. I struggled and puffed my way to the airport, carrying these very heavy pieces of baggage. There was a long walk along a city block to the nearest subway station, and then hopefully I could rest the suitcases on the escalator during the ride down to the lower level. I then had to inch my way onto the subway train through the crowd, hoping that my suitcases and I would make it all the way in before the doors would close. At that time, there were no wheels on the bottom of suitcases to make the trek easier. After a ride to the end of the subway line, a change of trains, another marathon walk through a train terminal, and a climb up another flight of stairs, I boarded the airport bus. After another half hour ride, I arrived at the airport. One more struggle with those suitcases was necessary, as I walked to the nearest baggage check area. I was so relieved to check the luggage, realizing that I could let it go, and stop worrying about it. When I arrived at Moncton Airport in New Brunswick, it would be taken care of by my taller, stronger brothers.

They could never understand what made my suitcases so heavy. The odd thing was that, when it was time to go back and I repacked my suitcases, I realized that I could have managed with about half of what I had brought with me.

As Christmas approaches once again, it's time for us to carefully check the baggage we carry, and set aside those things which weigh us down.

We are making a journey, and it is important to travel with only what is essential to life. We need to set our sights on the destination, to have a clear vision of where we are going. We are travelling toward the star of Bethlehem, that marked the coming of God's great light into the world.

What has come in the way of our close relationship with God? What blocks our experiencing of Christ at work in us? What is there in our life that needs to be turned around, made lighter by Christ's love and forgiveness? What anger is present within us, that needs forgiveness on our part?

At the foot of the cross, we can leave the baggage we carry around with us. The message of Advent, through the words of John the Baptist, is that we must understand our need for forgiveness, or we cannot appreciate the love of God that comes into the world in Jesus Christ. We can't see the star of Bethlehem clearly, without the shadow of the cross of Golgotha. We cannot receive the joy of Christmas without knowing in a personal way, why it comes to us.

Prayer: Loving and understanding God, fill us with your presence as we undertake the journey toward the Bethlehem manger once again. Enable us to shed all the unnecessary baggage we carry, as we confess to you our sins and shortcomings, and all the anger that is part of our lives. Fill us with the joy of knowing that Jesus Christ was born to save us. Amen.

Long ago in the ancient Middle East, and probably in other areas of the world as well, when a king decided to tour part of his dominion, he would send a courier, a messenger, ahead of him to tell the people to prepare the roads for his coming. In the absence of paved highways, there was no doubt that the king had good reason to make his demand. The journeys would be long, slow, and bumpy, even by the best of standards in those days. After the arrival of the messenger, pot-holes were filled in as well as possible, and rough spots were removed or smoothed over.

John the Baptist was like this kind of messenger, sent ahead of Jesus to prepare the way for his coming, his advent. John was only the latest and most significant of a long line of messengers whose job it was to tell people of the coming of the Messiah. For centuries, the prophets had been the messengers telling of his coming. The name "Malachi" means "messenger"; he, too, tells of the need to prepare the way for the one who is coming.

Always, God is continually creating and reforming history, giving us messengers in every age, to let us know that he has already and will continue to act within the context of human events, to save us. Like the people of Bible times, we need to hear the stories of the ancient messengers over and over again, because otherwise, God becomes too distant for us. We need to hear how God has acted and intervened in people's lives.

The message is still the same: God came into the world in human form, risking everything, to save us all. Prepare the way, once again, for Jesus Christ to come into your life.

Prayer: We praise you for coming into the world and giving yourself to us, in the person of Jesus Christ. We thank you for the message of love that he was born to bring to all people. Help us, O God, as we attempt to prepare ourselves for his advent. Help us to make the rough places of our lives smooth, in our preparations to receive him. Amen.

A long time ago, as a young university student, I used to plan and look forward to going "home" for Christmas. Stored somewhere in my memories is the sense of disappointment and sadness I felt the year that I made it all the way out to the airport, to be told that my flight had been cancelled due to one of those infamous Maritime winter storms. The only way for me to make the journey was to take a chance on the next day's flights. All the scheduled flights were booked, but another might be added to accommodate the stormstayed travellers. There was nothing to do for the night but return to the residence, which was empty of people and voices. The loneliness and homesickness I felt that night remain etched in my memory. At that time, for me to celebrate Christmas meant that I had to be home, among the people I loved.

We have all been influenced by the media pictures of cosy families, "roasting chestnuts by an open fire", gifts under the Christmas tree, good food and good times. Without even realizing it, we have come to feel somehow that this is what we need in order to celebrate Christmas.

Many years ago, a young couple was forced by the laws of their government to celebrate Christmas many miles away from their home and families. They were not even able to enjoy the comforts of someone else's home. All the hotels were booked; the only place available was a stable. Yet it was here, among strangers, that Jesus was born. God chose to make an entrance into our world, not in the midst of a large, happy family gathering, but in a place no one expected, under harsh conditions in a poor region of the world.

No home or church building can contain the One whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, for He comes to make His home wherever you and I prepare to welcome Him. The Lord is with us, willing to enter fully into our existence, whatever that may mean this Christmas. Many people will be without a home this year, or perhaps at home but separated from family members by death, divorce, or some other unhappy circumstance. Some will spend Christmas in hospital. Others will find themselves a continent away, in the midst of peacekeeping duties in dangerous conditions, or helping to bring emergency aid where it is needed.

Wherever we are, whether or not we can summon a sense of happiness and what the world terms "joy", we need to remember that Christmas is more than partygoing and gift-giving and receiving. Christmas is Jesus coming to make His home in our hearts, and warming our lives by His presence. Just as He once came to bring light to a world that had suffered long in darkness, so he enters the darkness of our present time with His love.

Prayer: God of love, may you be born again in our hearts this Christmas, wherever and however we celebrate the birth of Your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

God bless you! Blessing someone who sneezes is a very old tradition, originating at a time when it was believed that a person was very vulnerable to possession by evil spirits while they sneezed. A sneeze is an involuntary action, when one's eyes close, and breathing is interrupted. We are helpless for a second or two – perhaps longer, if you are one of those whose sneezing spells last for seven or eight good ones!

We have blessings for all sorts of occasions, including meals, services of worship, baptisms, and blessing of wedding rings during the marriage ceremony as well as of the newly married couple. Blessings come in many forms; there is no one set way of expressing them.

What on earth did Jesus mean that day, in the Sermon on the Mount, blessing the unemployed, the poor, the sick, the grieving? We don't usually perceive these states of being to be particularly blessed. The stress of an uncertain future, of not knowing how bills will be paid, or of suddenly confronting the loss of someone close are not occurrences we look forward to.

"Excuse me," Jesus says. "I'm not talking about the great Canadian dream of success and happiness forever. I'm talking about the Kingdom of God. It's a different way."

To be blessed and to be brimming over with happiness are not one and the same. Many things in life help us feel happy without blessing us. On the other hand, we can be blessed even in the midst of great grief.

To be blessed is not necessarily to have all the hurts removed from one's life, but rather, to somehow sense the unending love of God through them. It is in knowing that God is with us, in spite of all else we may experience, that we are truly blessed.

Jesus directs his Sermon on the Mount not only to those who have their lives together and under control, but also to those who are at the end of their rope. He tells the poor, the empty, the sad and lonely, "I'm on your side. I'm here for you."

Prayer: O God, whose wisdom is all-knowing, and whose strength is all powerful, draw us to yourself. We delight in the abundance with which you have blessed us. Even more, we delight in the gifts we have received in Christ Jesus. Bless us, now and in the future, we pray, in ways we least expect. Amen.