Rev. Greg Alms over at Incarnatus Est has a thought provoking post on the English carol, On Christmas Night:Â It’s Here
Why should men on earth be so sad?
One paragraph in particular is worth repeating:
God gives us Christmas and like feasts of the church year not only to learn the doctrines and the messages but to sing, to feel and know the joy that comes with losing oneself in the lifting up of one’s voice.
The carol itself is of course true. Our sadness, be it seasonal, mourning over sin and loss, or clinical, is a result of sin ultimately. The problem for those of us who suffer from clinical depression is that our Lord’s birth does not instantly remove the blight up our heart and mind. Our Lord’s birth will remove all sickness, sorrow and disease. We are at the beginning of that great and mighty work of HIs. But we have not seen its conclusion at the Last Day. So until then, we wait. We wait as prisoners who know they will be set free. We wait and hope.
May our Lord’s return come quickly, and deliver us from this vale of tears.
-DMR
