Christmas Day

Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20

Read the first seven verses of Luke 2 and stop.  We’ll look at the later verses tomorrow.  Today, on this holy day, I invite you to notice the simplicity of this story.  There was a census.  Everyone went to be registered.  Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem, his family’s town.  The town was so full they stayed in a stable.  She came into labor and gave birth there, and laid the baby in a feeding trough.  

Simple.  Nothing dramatic or supernatural.  Just a pregnant woman and her almost-husband, part of the overflow crowd forced to travel to satisfy the desire of a tyrant.  Just a baby born into extreme circumstances.  Simple.

Sometimes it’s the simplest places where we see holiness most clearly.  Beautiful cathedrals and exquisite music can bring us to reverence, but so can a leaf hanging alone on a tree.  Angels and shepherds with strange messages are one way for us to learn that something special is happening, but they aren’t required.  What is needed is simply for us to be fully aware and alive to our surroundings.  The incarnation is here and now, with every breath pulsing through our bodies and every magnetic field running through rocks.  Jesus is here, God is with us.  Every child is holy.  Every struggling parent or step-parent is holy.  Every stable, every manger, every tenement or trailer or shack is holy.  Even the mansions are holy places, if we see right.

She gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Whatever you do or don’t do today, whatever you give or receive, however you celebrate this day, look up and around and be amazed.  The world is alive, the reign of God is at hand.

Merry Christmas!

Thank you for reading and being with me this season.  I will continue to blog through the 12 days; after that I’ll be in retreat until January 12.  Then we’ll see!