I find myself wondering, yes even during Christmas, “can there really be redemption and restoration for this weary world.” 

Yet we do take heart this Christmas.

Because the weary world does rejoice.

The prophet Jeremiah sings of this great Christmas homecoming: “See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.”

The Word is made flesh. All earth rejoices. Heaven and nature sing.

God has come to dwell with us, to make us people of God, to make all things new.

Will we receive him as he comes to dwell in us, as he comes to make his home in and with us, in all humanity, in all the earth? Will we find room, will we make room for God?  

Perhaps this is our work of Christmas in this new year of 2021.