I often refer to essays I hear on the radio. It is the medium from which I get most of my news, and to which I am exposed most often (during my long commute to and from work--45 minutes each way, and hour and a half a day, thirty hours a week, fifteen hundred hours each year for the last 12 years).
Anyway, there has been a series of essays from different families, each recounting their holiday traditions--a little Jewish boy excited about lighting the Menorah; a woman looking forward to watching made-for-TV movies all night on Christmas Eve; and today, a Hispanic grandmother talking about making bunuelos on New Year's Eve.
For those who don't know, bunuelos are golden, crispy-sweet, tortilla-like fritters sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, or topped with syrup. The tradition held by this Abuela (grandmother) was that the bunuelos could not be made or eaten before midnight. She said her children and grandchildren would start asking about them as early as 8 or 9 p.m. on New Year's Eve. "When do we start making the bunuelos? Can we start making them now?" About 11 o'clock, she would start rolling out the dough, letting her grandchildren playfully argue over whose turn it was to help roll the dough balls out flat, or sprinkle cinnamon-sugar over them when they came out of the fryer. Then the family would enjoy the sweet fritters together as the new year arrives.
"Whatever the New Year brings," she said, "we can tackle it because we've done it together, we've seen the New Year come in as a family."
One of our family's holiday traditions is to go to the Christmas Eve service held by our church. Although there are three services, starting at 6 pm, 10 pm, midnight, we enjoy going to the midnight service. We sing carols, light candles, and listen to encouraging words from the pastor. Some years, offerings are taken, not for the church, but for families in the community in need.
Being a part of that service is meaningful. Like the Mexican grandmother in the radio story, we feel like whatever life throws at us, we can handle it because we are a part of something bigger--the family, the local church, and ultimately the community of God. I use the word "community" on purpose, rather than Church or Family or even Heavenly Host. It conveys that we commune with God; we take communion together; we communicate with each other.
The day is coming when we will see God face to face. We will fall prostrate at His feet and worship Him personally. Lord, haste the day! This is what we live for. If you do not have a personal relationship with God, I would like to introduce you to His Son, Jesus, who is called the Christ (or the Messiah). This Jesus was born into this world to redeem us. It is His birth that we celebrate--He is the Reason for the Season. This redemption involved sacrifice--Jesus laid down His very life for you and me. But God has raised Him from the dead, so that we, too, might live. It is a mystery, and requires faith. By faith we commune with Him and He with us.
We celebrate the fact that whatever comes our way, we can overcome it because we have access to God through His Son, and together, we experience each day as God's family.
