Our Christmas Eve 35 years ago was not silent, calm and bright. I was eight and a half years old and I remember it like it was yesterday – the shooting, the sleeping on the floor of our apartment because it was safer that way, the masses gathered to protest and to pray together. I also remember my fear and my fears. Oh so clearly! That Christmas Eve was revolutionary!
The Romanian Revolution of 89 was one of the last movements for freedom in Central and Eastern Europe, but this one, unlike some others, was bloody. Ugly. Heavy.
When I was living in Arad, this beloved town in the western part of Romania, as a grownup I used to go every year to the little monument in front of the city hall to read the names of those who lost their lives during our Revolution. Each name, a whole history and story lost. And for those who lost their loved ones there, a whole story written differently for them. The name of that father, the father of a girl that I knew – that was always the hardest to read. I knew him! His death left such a hole! I witnessed that loss and the effects of that loss.
How do you fill holes in the hearts that feel hollow and heavy on Christmas Eve?
More than two thousand years ago there was another Christmas Eve. The night was not silent, calm and bright. The times were heavy, dark and, for too many people, hopeless. But in one small, obscure place, the most unlikely thing happened! The Son of God became the Son of Man! How can God Himself become human is something that my mind does not comprehend, but I believe! I believe it because I witnessed and still witness the effects of this revolutionary incarnation.
My own life was revolutionized by the Son of God becoming Son of Man!
That Christmas Eve was not just another night, but it was The Night! The Night when all nights had a chance of having Light, even in the darkest darkness.The Night when both the biggest and best, as well as the lowly and lonely were welcomed at the Manger-Throne. The Night when, in spite of circumstances not changed, a New Kingdom started. That Night was beautiful, hosts of angels appeared in the sky! A star of significance led scholarly people to search for the newborn King. That night was revolutionary! This revolution was the Revolution of Love – a Love that fills the empty hearts, that gives hope to those who feel hollow, that welcomes the uninvited, that touches the unwanted, that forgives the unforgivable, that heals the selfishness of the human heart, that feels deeply with those in pain, that finds those who experienced loss, and accompanies the lonely.
That Christmas Eve 35 years ago was revolutionary. I got to live through something historic. Those who know me know that I often speak about this Revolution. And I often speak about the Before and After. The before is hard to even describe. Yet I try. The after was not easy. We got our freedom, but the years that followed were unstable, chaotic, panicky and still hard. Things did not change overnight in my country. In so many ways, we’re still changing and growing and learning how to live out our identity as people of freedom.
What followed that First Christmas Eve was brutal. The lowest of low: a whole generation of male children being murdered because of the fear of a fickle king losing his fickle throne. I have a son now and I cannot even stay very long in this chapter of the Story! It took years of still waiting for the New Kingdom – the Kingdom of Love to even be proclaimed and announced. We’re still living in the already and not yet of the Kingdom, two thousand years later.
May this Christmas Eve be revolutionary for each of us! If your night is not silent, calm and bright, know that The Son-of-God-Become-Son-of-Man knows and understands. He welcomes us as we are, in our lowest of low or highest of high. He is enough for all! And while I confess that I wish that He changed all things overnight, both in my life, in your life, and in the world, this Christmas Eve I come to Him and surrender my small vision and fickle dreams. I trust that His are bigger for me and for this beautiful and battered world that we live in.
Receive the King! His Kingdom is Love and His Love changes everything – already and not yet!
Have a revolutionary Christmas!
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