Central Assembly
December 26, 2021 | Pastor Josh Seaman | A Disappointing Christmas
Christmas can be filled with big disappointments and sorrow.
Matthew 2:16-18 CSB
So how do we deal with the sadness of hope or expectation being unfulfilled?
Allow yourself to be with it. Allow yourself, and others, to experience the disappointment of pain, loss, and grief.
“Tears are not the enemy. Tears do not reflect a lack of faith. Tears are a gift from God that help to wash away the deep pain of loss.”
-Nancy Guthrie, What Grieving People Wish Others Knew at Christmas
Allow yourself to be with Him in it. Know that you’re not alone in your disappointment.
Psalms 34:18 CSB
Revelation 21:3-4 CSB
Lord, make us an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred let us sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
Our Divine Master, grant that we may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen
-Saint Francis of Assisi