When Chanukah overlaps Christmas

I got a text from a friend recently who was reading the Christmas story to her granddaughter from the Bible. After she was finished, the little girl asked where the stories of little girls were?

Insightful.

We can explain it away as adults, but its a real question for a little girl.

At a Christmas Eve gathering, I listened to the story of a young believer from Kenya, whose mother and sister are believers in Jesus, but his father cannot reconcile Christianity with colonialism.

I had a dream recently where a woman was sharing how she cannot read the old testament because of how so many women were treated, and because it was only written by a man. In this dream I wanted to say “if it was taught right, we’d see the scathing critique of many decisions that were in there, but some of the principles are still very applicable today”. Instead I looked at her and just said “I see you and I hear you”. For this woman had been trafficked many years by men, and she was still reframing and reclaiming her own sense of self.

I know people who cannot reconcile Christianity with the slaughter of Indigenous peoples, the wiping out of their culture – not just in America but also in other countries wherever colonialism (for God and the King/Queen) was the norm for the day.

I have Jewish friends who cannot reconcile Christianity with the Holocaust, because the church in many ways turned a blind eye and accepted the picture that was painted.

It is so hard sometimes to hear and bear the truth of these stories. They all seem to share a common theme, one that grieves me deeply:

The honor of God’s name was lost

A heavy thought for Christmas morning, I realize.

And yet.

When these larger, systemic things happened in our history as human beings, I am reminded of how there were always groups of people – small, yes but still – who worked against the tide of evil. Sometimes it was the church, followers of Jesus who understood that the message of the gospel was never meant to be a “power over” type of faith, but a salt that brought healing, a light that exposed darkness and evil power structures and brought them to and end in their time.

Always, somewhere, there were people who didn’t follow blindly, who actually wanted to bring God honor by standing against what was going on. It’s still like that.

Yes, God is bigger than all the evil in the world, and he will have the last word on it all.

But we can’t just wash away the hardness of story – let’s face it, even in the Christmas story we have right along with the wise men the slaughter of every boy under 2 years old. How do you get around that one?

All throughout the traces of the old testament there are places God talks about a remnant, people who actually know what it is to honor his name and do what is right and just.

There still are.

This year, Chanukah overlaps Christmas, so I think a brief mention of it fits well. Without going into all the details, Chanukah is celebrated to remember the miracle of the oil in the lamp in the temple burning for 8 nights when there was only enough for one night. This comes after the Maccabees reclaimed the temple from Antiochas and were purifying it and re-dedicating it to YHWH.

(if you want the full story, here’s a great post: https://www.jewishvoice.org/read/article/lights-wont-burn-out

Even though this wasn’t one of the celebrations commanded by Moses, Jews celebrate Chanukah to remember the way YHWY continues to deliver his people in history. I find that hopeful. Always moving forward, always remembering past deliverance.

It’s into this same history, this story, that if we look at the story of Yeshua (Jesus), why we celebrate Christmas year after year, because it reminds us that at a point in history, the Eternal One came in the form of a baby to be Emmanuel, YHWH with us… a continual light across all of history.

A light, a hope that will never go out, in our day or in days to come. YHWH is not done looking for people that will bring honor to his name across history, participating in being light to the world.

My friends, amidst all the family and presents, amidst laughter and memories, amidst tears or loss or family frustrations….may you know that this Christmas can hold whatever your story carries.

May you be reminded that the lamp of God in Yeshua still burns for everyone to see, and may it bring light to your hearts today.

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah my friends!