The Reason for the Season
by
The Rev. Karen Lynn Woo*
Cheryl smiled as she looked out the
window and watched her twins playing with one another in the safety of their
backyard. This was one of her favorite
times of the day. “Quiet Time” she called
it. On the table before her sat a big pot
of Chamomile tea and a stack of Christmas letters ready to be signed and
addressed.
As she picked up her pen to sign the
first letter of the season, a tear trickled out of the corner of one eye and
down her cheek. “This is going to be
harder than I thought” she said to no one as she wiped away the tear before it
dropped on to the paper. How could it be
Christmas already? Where had the year
gone? Looking past the tea pot into the
living room her eyes rested on the nativity scene on the table. “Why Jesus? Why?” she said aloud as the flood
of tears held back from her children as they decorated the house earlier that
day were finally released.
It was this time last year that she, her
husband Jack, and their three children were out caroling with their church
family. It had been a wonderful time for
all involved with shut-ins all over town thanking them for their visit . . . thanking
the members of the church for remembering them during the holidays. She knew first-hand how lonely this time of
the year could be for those who could not get out. When her dad could no longer take care of her
mom, they had moved to a facility where he could live in the assisted living
portion of the building and she could live in the skilled nursing area. Cheryl and her family visited regularly and
were told each time they went how much their visit was appreciated . . . not
just by her parents but by the others in the facility who received hugs and
smiles from the children as well.
It was almost 8 p.m. by the time they
left the church to return home.
Nevertheless, when their youngest son called out “Let’s go see the
Christmas lights!” they all agreed that was the perfect way to end the evening.
They drove to a nearby town and slowly wound
their way around Christmas Tree lane oohing and aahing at the beautiful
Christmas lights and decorations before stopping, as they always did, at a
house whose owners (decked out in Frosty the Snowman and Mrs. Claus outfits) stood
outside their decorated “Gingerbread House” every year passing out hot chocolate
and cookies to those who stopped to see them.
Filled with hot cocoa and homemade
cookies the family once again burst into song as they headed home. “Dashing through the snow . . . “ their voices
rang out when suddenly two vehicles slammed into their van, killing Jack and
Steven on impact. For a while it looked
like Cheryl might lose the twins as well but they came through their surgeries
and began the painstakingly slow road to recovery. She looked out the window again as her heart
skipped a beat. Yes, they were still
there.
“Father,” she said, “we were a good and
faithful Christian family. We went to
church, we read your Word, we prayed, we shared what we had with those in need;
we even shared the love of your Son with those who did not know him. Why did you let this happen?”
A knock at the door interrupted her
thoughts. She got up and opened the
door. There stood her sister Simone, her
best friend Tracy, and the pastor of their church. “If Mohammed won’t come to the mountain the
mountain will come to Mohammed” Simone said giving her sister a hug. We missed you at our Christmas tea today so we
thought we’d come see how you and the boys were doing.”
Cheryl hugged her sister back and motioned
to the others to come in. “I was just having
tea myself in the kitchen nook” she replied. “Will you join me?” The three women quickly assented and Cheryl
swapped out her Christmas letters for additional cups and saucers and a plate
of freshly baked cookies. “To be honest,
I completely forgot about the Women’s Tea today,” she said as she poured tea
into their cups and set the kettle on the stove to boil more water. “I was just thinking how quickly this year has
passed. How can it be Christmas again
already?”
Noticing the quiver in her friend’s
voice and body, Tracy quietly pulled a packet of Kleenex from her purse and
handed one to Cheryl as she put her arm around Cheryl’s shoulder and gave her a
squeeze. They had been best friends for
30 years. Tracy knew there was nothing
she could say that would ease her friend’s heartache. Sometimes, all you could do was be there for
one another.
“An entire year has passed,” Cheryl
continued dabbing at the newly formed tears in her eyes, “and I’m still crying
. . . still missing them as if it happened just last week. Why did God take them? Why did He even allow the accident to
happen? He is all-powerful, all-knowing,
eternal. Surely He could have prevented
this tragedy from happening!”
For the next few minutes the four women
sat silently nodding their heads and sipping tea. Simone and Tracy had heard these words from
Cheryl over and over again for the past year and still had no words with which to
comfort her . . . no words that could explain why an all-powerful, all-knowing,
eternal God allowed bad, tragic things really, to happen to good people. Finally, their pastor broke the silence.
“No one, not even pastors, knows why God
does what He does. He is the
potter. We are the clay. What we do know is that He loves us more than
life itself and proved it more than 2,000 years ago by sending His Son to earth
in the form of a tiny baby so that one day, when He was all grown up, He might
die on a cross with the sin of all humankind for all time upon Him . . . taking
upon Himself the punishment that should have been ours and then resurrected 3
days later so that anyone . . . everyone . . . who believes in Him might not
perish but may have eternal life. God IS
all-powerful. He IS all-knowing. He IS eternal. But He does not force his Will on us nor does
He manipulate our actions. Cheryl, I
know this may not seem right or fair but the simple fact is we live in a fallen,
sinful world where human beings often make bad decisions . . . decisions that hurt
others . . . decisions that contradict God’s Will. I do not believe it was
God’s Will that Jack and Steven should have died in the manner that they did. Their death was caused by two men who decided
to race their cars through the streets of the town on the day and at the time
your family was driving home. It was an
accident with horrible consequences, but it was still an accident. No, God did not keep them from doing what
they decided to do but knowing this would happen God did, in advance, through
the death and resurrection of His Son, make a way for Jack and Steven to live
eternally with Him so that when you and the twins arrive at heaven’s gates you
will all be reunited again and this time for all eternity.”
Cheryl took in all that their pastor had
said and then looked once more at the nativity scene on the living room
table. “Thank you Jesus,” she said. “Thank you for coming to earth to be our
Savior”.