If I could use a picture to represent 2020 without a caption, this would be one of them. It captures much of what 2020 has felt like for me. Like a train crashing through a living room, COVID-19 hit and wrecked everything…and it has yet to stop. COVID came thundering in, and everything changed. Everything imploded and was displaced, and nothing seems to be where we left it. Even the things we try to put back don’t fit the way they once did.
Even for this year’s Christmas In The City, we are facing many of the challenges 2020 has produced. Due to COVID and trying to provide safety protocols, along with the indoor show, we’ve also made space for outdoor entertainment, a living Nativity drama, and a parade of Christmas characters. Masks will be required to enter and move about the building, (they can be taken off when you are seated to watch the show inside and they are not required outside) there are sanitizing stations, all seats are socially distanced, and much more. But in all of it, none of the quality has been sacrificed. As a matter of fact, this year’s show will be unlike any other we’ve ever done or attempted!
In all of this, that is why the picture resonated with me for 2020. I feel like I walked backstage in between songs, came back out, and everything was different, displaced, and everyone was gone. But here’s the thing about 2020 that I want to point out, that is also true of this picture. This pic is from a recent Christmas In The City practice, and you see no one else in the picture because they are all behind me, waiting to come out into their places to play, sing, and dance to the music together. Sure, there are not as many as usual, but there are still enough to move forward with something great. You see, it’s all in how you choose to look at the picture. Same with 2020.
In this moment of the picture, there are people walking hand in hand beside me, with me, daring to do something many believe can’t be done. While we may all be at different distances and different places onstage, we have chosen to take the ride together, to make the daring feat together. And if we fail, we will fail together, we will learn together, and thank God for the moments we had in trying to move forward together. But the key here is…TOGETHER.
Nothing is the same this year. But in the midst of the muck and mire, you can focus on the limitations it seems to magnify, or you can focus on the opportunities it is producing. This Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m choosing to focus on the opportunities it is providing, and to be thankful for those opportunities. I’m choosing to be thankful for the opportunity to be humbled, to be stretched, to be resourceful, to be faithful and steadfast, even if so much around me is uncertain. I’m choosing to be thankful for the opportunity to trust God for His financial provision, both in my own life and in the church’s life. I’m choosing to be thankful for the opportunity that I have to walk out on a stage, and if there aren’t as many people there as usual, to rediscover my passion and calling for doing everything for God’s applause, rather than man’s applause. I’m also grateful that I am getting to experience these opportunities alongside a few other people who have chosen to do the same thing. There is power in that.
Like so many of you, I want nothing to do with COVID. I know it’s real and I want it gone. I pray daily for that. I’m doing my best to keep it out of my body and abide by all the protocols, even the parts for which I disagree and don’t feel the same as others.
Having said all that, my greatest fear for the after effects of COVID that will take place months, even years down the road, is less about the fear of dying and more about the fear of all the living that will be left undone. So I’ve chosen to do the living. One may say, “Yeah, but with limitations.” Fair enough, maybe so. Some things I can’t control or get back. But I’m not looking at it that way. I say, “No, living with new opportunities I’ve never had before.” Most importantly, God’s strength being perfected through my weakness as 2 Corinthians 12:9 states.
I’m aware of the limitations and not ignoring them, but I’m focusing on the opportunities. That is the way I’m choosing to live my life each day. That is the way I’m doing worship and gathering with the church each week. That is the way I’m doing Christmas In The City this year, regardless of the outcome. I’m not ignoring realities, but I’m choosing hope and choosing to convey hope at every turn. And the best part about that, is that even though the picture may look like I’m alone and abandoned, if you look deeper, behind the lens…I’m not. There are many showing up to take the same journey…TOGETHER. That matters and I’m grateful for it. Most of all, God is at the center of it all, so I can simply rest in that. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.