The season of comfort

This is what has become known as the Holiday Season. It has crept into October to now include All Saints Eve, or as most know it Hallowe’en. It has become more secularized than Christmas, which has made it one of the more confusing and not often recognized Christian observances. In my own experience, in the last couple of decades it has become one of our most neighborhood friendly and social celebrations. When the weather is good, as it usually is, it is when I see more of my neighbors than at any other time of year. It is the signal for some to begin putting up a few Christmas decorations. Our family usually waits until the weekend after Thanksgiving.

The journey to comfort is usually a difficult one. It may be a bad day, or just a hard one. It may be devastating news or a loss. It may be a season of difficulty, which has no end in sight. It may be a sore body from labor or a bruised soul from a careless or harmful person. Whatever the journey, it is good to have a place of healing quiet.

Comfort is experienced in the company of people who care enough to sit quietly and allow the ease of strain to surround mind and body. It is a break from the noise before reengaging in the tasks at hand. Comfort is felt more when we can hear the storm raging while we are, for the moment, shielded from it.

Places of comfort require preparation. Comfort is heard, smelled and tasted because someone has prepared a comforting place. The wisdom of good words, or silence, come from souls who have taken care of themselves in times of calm. They require physical and spiritual effort on the part of those who provide them. We all need these places from time to time and we all need to do what we can to prepare our lives to be that place for others.

In the Old Testament, God reminded his people that he is a God of comfort. Even though we as humans often make a mess of things, he has provided guidance for us to be a people of comfort to each other. We often fail because we focus on fixing each other’s beliefs more than helping each other heal. Jeremiah reminds us of the joys of comfort.

“Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,

and declare it in the coastlands afar off;

say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,

and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’

For the LORD has ransomed Jacob,

and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.

They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,

and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD,

over the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and over the young of the flock and the herd;

their life shall be like a watered garden,

and they shall languish no more.

Then shall the maidens rejoice in the dance,

and the young men and the old shall be merry.

I will turn their mourning into joy,

I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.

I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,

and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:10-14, RSV)