The Christmas season brings much joy to the world: gift exchanges, office parties, time with family, moving worship services, cookies, wassel, sentimental movies, the list goes on. But there is also a lot of pressure that comes with the Christmas season.
There is pressure to purchase gifts for all of the special people in our lives. And for those among us with tight financial budgets, this can make for an exceedingly stressful month. Not only do we have to make sure our children or grandchildren have their socks blown off by mounds of Christmas presents, but we also feel the pinch to purchase gifts for neighbors, nieces, cousins, co-workers, and friends.
There is the pressure to experience warm and special family moments around the family fireplace. For those among us who have experienced divorce or the death of a spouse or child, the Christmas season can be painful. The empty chair at the table is a constant reminder of painful loss, and the hearth of the fireplace seems to yield nothing but cold and ashes.
There is the pressure to be at every holiday event (family parties, office parties, church worship services) on top of an already-full family calendar.
I am not trying to be a Debbie Downer or anything. I love Christmas. As a pastor, however, I am aware that the pastoral care needs in my congregation increase around this time of year. More of the pain in people's lives rises to the surface; feelings and emotions that were buried throughout the first 11 months of the year find their way to the surface.
Whether or not we are a pastor, we can all be on the lookout for friends, co-workers, family members, and neighbors that may be having a difficult time with the holidays. This is not an attempt to add another burden to the pressures we already experience, but to encourage us to keep one eye open for those among us who appear to be imploding.
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