Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
Today after worship we celebrated an "Old Fashioned Christmas" with traditional activities like caroling and decorating cookies. Most people have traditions at Christmas, perhaps a special meal or a favorite activity. Traditions give structure and predictability to our lives. They can even give meaning if they draw us back to core relationships and values.
Psalm 80 is a prayer of people desperate for the hand of God in their lives. It has a verse that repeats over and over:
Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
Repetition in the words of the psalm give moments of pause that let us absorb the message of a people crying out to their God.
Our very best traditions bring us back time and again to the place where we can feel God's face shining upon us. We come back to a place where we love and are loved, back to a place where we give generously and receive graciously.
The most important tradition of Christmas time is not a food or an activity, it is that once-a-year moment when we open ourselves to the gift of the Christ child in a manger. It is the time when this heartfelt prayer is answered:
Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
