Wednesday, December 15, 2021 – ADVENT FOUR

“She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.”  (Luke 2:7, New Living Translation)

                 Yikes! The manger is missing!

                After decorating our Christmas tree, I noticed the creche figures in the box and decided that they would look great on the floor below the tree. I pulled out the two lambs, a donkey, a shepherd and Mary and Joseph, of course. But I couldn’t find the manger. The manger that I thought belonged to the set was not in the same box as the rest of the figures. There was a tiny version belonging to another creche set; I tried to use it a substitute but it was so out of scale that it looked silly. Well, it wasn’t Christmas yet, I told myself, so I guess it will be OK if Baby Jesus hasn’t appeared just yet.  Maybe the manger will turn up.

                But it continued to strike me as odd that the manger wasn’t in the same box. A little later in the day, I took a closer look at the creche scene and, lo and behold, there is no manger because Mary is holding Baby Jesus in her arms. This scene depicts a loving mother cuddling and embracing her new born baby while Joseph looks proudly upon both mother and child. No need for a straw-filled  manger. No need to look any further. Jesus was in the best place possible – his mother’s arms.

                Is there something missing in your Christmas this year? Does something seem not quite right? Is something out of place or just doesn’t fit? What are you looking for this Christmas? Who or what are you hoping will turn up? In another Christmas that is affected and infected by covid, these are valid questions for many. Christmas can’t be real without a manger. Christmas isn’t Christmas until… (you fill in the blank).

                Perhaps, we should take a closer look at the Christmas scene. Truth be told, sentimentalism aside, Christmas isn’t Christmas until we lift Jesus out of the manger and embrace the Christ child. Maybe we are looking in the wrong places for the grace and beauty of Christmas. A manger is a crude place for a Messiah. He was born there in the shed because there was no room anywhere else. Although we have romanticized it, this was a cruel beginning to such a tiny life.

                We should not leave the baby just lying in the manger, but wrap our arms around the significance of this birth for you and me. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!”  (Luke 2: 10 -11, NLT)

                There is a Christmas song called “While You Were sleeping”. The chorus goes like this:

                Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
                For God became a man
                And stepped into your world today
                Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
                As a city with no room for its King
                While you were sleeping
                While you were sleeping

The songs ends by asking the same question of America, about what it will miss while it is sleeping.  But I  think the words provoke a challenge for us all, to embrace the One who was born into our world. Open our hearts wide, make room, hold tight, and discover that Holy One has been right under our noses and in our midst all the time.

Dale