Where’s The Joy This Christmas? 

Written By Chia Poh Fang, Singapore

The weather has turned chilly. The sky is mostly overcast. Raindrops splatter the ground, as though someone forgot to turn off the sprinkler.

December feels sorrowful. In this month, bad things happened. A good friend’s mum went into the surgical room for a minor operation, but never came out alive. Another experienced complications during childbirth and the long anticipated child came into the world with permanent disabilities.

Yet, while my friends are grieving, the world is still spinning. The crematorium is filled with anguished mourners; and the malls are thronged with merry makers.

Amid such a grim setting, a glimmer of light shines through. This sounds so clichéd but it’s true. For in this mournful month, we celebrate the birth of Christ—a historical event, the fulfilment of a promise made many years ago.

“The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned . . . .
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” —Isaiah 9:2,6

God entered our broken world, broken dreams, and broken lives. He came alongside us in our pain; He shows us that He cares. God became man and made visible for us the invisible God. Through Jesus, we see and understand that God is love. He is compassionate and He has the power to heal. Eventually, Jesus gave up His life for us. By His sacrifice, God is turning a world that has gone upside down the right-side up.

On Christmas, we recall Christ’s first coming to bring hope to the hopeless and to give life to the perishing. It also points to the certainty of another day—a day when Christ will come again to wipe away every tear. When He returns, there will be no more death, mourning or crying or pain. Indeed, all these things will be gone forever.

So when we think about Christmas and are heartbroken to face another holiday with tears, may the remembrance of Christ’s coming comfort us in our pain and give us hope to face another day.