My reflection is from Living Faith:
… I proclaim to you a good news of great joy… Luke 2:10
“In Christmas art and carols, a glowing baby Jesus sleeps upon soft straw, swaddled in white germ-free linen. Perhaps a scratch-and-sniff Christmas card would better capture the authentic Bethlehem experience!
The reality of Christmas, then and now, is so different from our fantasy. We live in the messy and broken world that God came to save. In our own communities, families face the same plight as Mary and Joseph: unexpected pregnancy. Relocating at the worst possible time. Fleeing to seek refuge in another land. Uncertainty about how everything will turn out.
Our challenge is to live and proclaim the promise of Christmas despite hurts and hardships around us. If we sanitize the story of Christ’s breaking into the world, like a sentimental Hallmark movie, we miss the world shaking magnitude that God accomplished as a tiny Child. May our hearts be stirred in our Christmas worship by the true Nativity scene, so that Jesus may find room to grow and change us from the inside out.”
Steve Pable
I never really thought about the reality of the first Christmas. The struggles that Mary and Joseph went through. May God open our eyes to see what needs to be changed in our individual lives. May God bless us and our world with peace and hope! Merry Christmas!
