The Cross of Christmas

The Advent and Christmas seasons can be particularly painful for those are post abortive. Everything around resounds of children .As the Christian world waits in joyful anticipation for the birth of the Christ child; it can become a painful reminder of the children we did not allow to be born. Just looking at the baby Jesus in the manger scene can cause great anxiety. Just the sight of the Christ child often brings darkness, shame, guilt and a paralyzing fear.
 
The secular world can be a strong abortion connector as well. As we are bombarded with the year’s hottest toys, we can’t help but reflect on our children who have been deprived of opening toys on Christmas morning, or the empty place at the Christmas table missing the son or daughter we chose to abort
 
As the world is celebrating and basking in the idea of “Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men”, many who are post abortive feel nothing but spiritual and emotional isolation void of peace, tormented by their past actions.
 
In the midst of all this however, is the true joy and message of Christmas…that God sent His only Son – the Word made Flesh, to dwell among us and free us from our sins. Through the birth of the Christ child in the poverty of the manager, the means of our salvation is present and our reconciliation with God, our children and yes, our selves are obtainable. And even though our children are not physically present to us, they share in the joy of the birth of Christ, who came to free us from our sins, even our sin of abortion. They desire our salvation so that we can join them in everlasting life with Christ.
 
Luke 2: 8-20
There were some shepherds in that part of the country …. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone over them. They were terribly afraid, but the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people. This very day in David’s town your Savior was born-Christ the Lord! And this is what will prove it to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
 
Suddenly a great army of heavens angels appeared with the angel, singing praises to God:
 
“Glory to God in the highest heaven; and peace on earth
to those with whom he is pleased!”
 
When the angels went away from them back into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us.”
 
So, they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and saw the baby lying in the manger. When the shepherds saw him, they told them what the angel had said about the child. All who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said. Mary remembered all these things and thought deeply about them.
 
The shepherds went back, singing praises to God for all they had heard and seen; it had been just as the angel had told them.
 
We are told the shepherds were “terribly afraid” when the “glory of the Lord shone over them”; perhaps because they were then able to truly see their sins, a fear that many of us feel when it comes to looking at the truth of our abortions. However, the angels told them “Don’t be afraid”…the birth of Christ will bring joy to ALL the people. Not just a select few, but everyone who seeks Him out. In spite of their fear at what they would find, the shepherds left everything and went to Bethlehem, to seek the Christ child, a movement of trust in spite of any feelings they were experiencing.
 
Once in the presence of the humility of the Christ child, they recognized Him as the way to their salvation and went back “singing praises for all they had seen and heard for “It had been just as the angel had told them”
 
This advent and Christmas season, as we wait for and celebrate the birth of Jesus, may we follow the example of the shepherds, and seek out and find Christ in the poverty of our hearts, for it is there that we also will be forgiven and reunited with our children who are now “living in the Lord” (EV)