Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.  2 Corinthians 1:3

There’s no way to pretend otherwise:  Christmastime makes the losses we’ve suffered feel more acute and more agonizing.  As the world seems to swirl more garishly and noisily, Jesus of the Manger, waits for those of us grieving loss, with powerful comfort.

Scripture tells that when Jesus was born, Mary wrapped her tiny son in “swaddling cloths” and laid Him in a manger (Luke 2:7).  In that day, bodies were swaddled at two times of life: birth and death.  Thirty-three years after being swaddled for the Manger, Jesus’ body would be swaddled for the grave.  But then, three days later, the swaddling cloths would be found, neatly folded inside His tomb, as He greeted his followers, fully alive.  Newborn Jesus was born to die, but Jesus’ death would bring an end to death’s permanence once and for all, and end to grief and loss without hope.

Follow Jesus today to the Manger of the Nativity. Lay your grief and loss down, right there in the hay, and accept comfort from “the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3).  If you’ve surrendered control of your life to Jesus, you received the Holy Spirit within you.  The Holy Spirit’s name means “Comforter.”

When you lay your loss in the Manger, the gift of comfort is there for you.  Even more, when you lay your life down, the living God, in the person of the Holy Spirit is yours—yes, comforting in loss, helping, guiding, and empowering you in every season and circumstance of life.

 

Resource reading: John 11:1-25