A Christmas Carol

 "There comes a point when we move from I would stand by you to I would march for you. Not only will I quietly lend support from the sidelines, but I will take up the banner."

Peanut and I have been listening to the audio version of A Christmas Carol this week. She loves the Grinch aspect that Scrooges heart grows during the story. That Scrooge, like Grinch, learns to love and be loved.

Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in response to the conditions in England at that time. He had read a government report detailing the life of the poor and was appalled. Rather than writing an article, he turned to a fiction story to depict how people viewed the poor and what he thought should be changed. He hoped to move the hearts and feet of those in his community.

Dickens went from lending support from the sidelines to carrying the banner.

This morning Peanut and I lit the fourth candle of Advent, love.

I've been thinking a lot about the kind of love that Christmas represents.

In sermon recently I heard a friend say that "Jesus loved those in the margin."

2020 for me has highlighted people in the margin.

I've spent a good bit of this year reading and learning and soaking up the various sides of current events.

I read something that suggested for a length of time when learning about a new issue, you should remain silent. You should let those who are educated share. You should let those who experience it share. You should be quiet.

2020 to me has brought out knee jerk reactions in many of us I think.

As a community we've been quick to post a status about where we stand on this or that - without ever walking in the shoes of those the issue really applies to.

We've made decisions about people in the margin without ever sitting quietly there.

As I type this, I'm listening to my husband cough. It's a brutal, relentless cough. I'm checking my texts for the pulse ox numbers that I depend on to make decisions.

I'm trying to wrap my head around how my community in general can be so abrasive with their opinions about the virus. Because you got it and it was just a bad cold, or not even that. Because it's not an issue unless it's personal.

Because only a small percentage of people die.

The people in the margin.

I think this level of thinking applies to so many things.

2020 has highlighted many social issues.....equality for people of color, sex trafficking, COVID19, LGBTQ community, law enforcement, homelessness and more.

I've been reading and learning and sitting in some of these communities.

Silent.

But I don't think we are meant to be silent forever.

When we are educated. When we feel a deep tugging for a social issue. When we are no longer an outsider but a person of the margin too.

Then we move from silent support to carrying the banner.

We move from sitting in the margin to marching for those in the margin.

I firmly believe Jesus not only loved those in the margin but he fought for them.

He stood up, despite the displeasure of anyone else, and he said "I will march for you."

Mama Warriors, let's make space this season for the those in the margin.

Silently.

Let's sit with those who are different than we are and let's learn.

Let's become educated before we march.

But when we are ready, let's have the courage to go from reading the government report to writing A Christmas Carol.

Let's move from support to carrying the banner.

Let's look at that fourth lit candle today and embrace loving people.

I think we do a decent job as the church of loving God but we've got a ways to go on loving His people.

His people are the people in the margin.

Published 2020