Micah 5:1-4a Hebrews 10:5-10 Luke 1:39-45
This year it seems like Christmas has come too soon. Thanksgiving was late last month and the season of Advent has been cut short, with the Fourth Week of Advent only a few days long. And now Christmas is upon us.
At home and at church we are ready to put Baby Jesus in the nativity scene. Then it will be complete. Joseph, probably holding a shepherd’s crook, will be standing behind the manger. There will be an animal or two, may be a donkey and a cow. The scene will likely include a shepherd and a few sheep. If the scene is scripturally correct you won't see the three kings yet, awaiting their appearance on Epiphany. And Mary will be there. She will be kneeling next to the manger. She will likely be draped in a blue veil and looking very serene. Not at all like she had just given birth!
I remember delivering my first child. He was also the first grandchild on both sides of the family. No son of God… but quite an event in our family! I recall being wheeled from labor and delivery back into my hospital room. I was exhausted after over 12 hours of labor… exhausted and ill prepared for a room full of excited relatives waiting for me. I believe a wise nurse suggested they all go down to the nursery and take a look at the new baby.
Giving birth is hard work. They don't call it labor for nothing!
At Christmas, I like to recall a quote attributed to Meister Eckhart, a Dominican friar and mystic of the 14th century. Translated from the German, he said something like “What good is it for me if Mary gave birth to the son of God many years ago and I don't give birth to God’s Son in my person and my culture and my times? “ That, too, is hard work.
It is important that we not freeze -frame the nativity scene and file it away as then and there. God intends that this nativity be here and now. That we bear God’s gift of peace and compassion into our time and place.
We cannot expect it will be easy. It never has been. But if this young girl could do it, without any of the advantages I had at St. Thomas Hospital years ago, then we can certainly give it our best shot!
Merry Christmas!
by: Pat Schnee
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