On the fourth day of Christmas and I’m feeling a bit reflective

I was blessed to attend a funeral yesterday of a young 22 year old man, the son of a local clergyman associate of mine, who died tragically a few days before Christmas and I have become a bit reflective about my own blessings. During the funeral the presiding priest kept stating, “This is why Jesus had to die…” I’m not sure I agree with that since not only were we celebrating Christmas, but the Orthodox Church has a different view on the death of Christ. He didn’t die so much because of “my personal sin” as much as He desired to be totally human and all humans must die. For Orthodox Christians the death of Christ is an act of pastoral love, not recovering some penalty of sin. Although “the wages of sin is death,” (Romans 6.23) when we dwell upon the cruel verdict of an angry God who demands death in exchange for sin, we lose sight of His absolute love.

That love is what has helped me this year. This year has been a very challenging year for me personally with my mother succumbing to cancer in April. It was our first Christmas without her and the busyness of a full house of cousins helped me. I am very blessed to have such a dedicated and loving family. My mother will be missed, as I’m sure the young man whose funeral I attended will be missed. It is because of Christmas that I am assured we will see each other again. That is reason enough to glorify God.