Merry Christmas!
Here we are in the 12 Days of Christmas – they run from December 25 through January 5. Though our cultural celebrations of Christmas started long before and will be fully over in the next day or so, the church year marks the birth of Jesus in these days after Christmas.
Hearing again the story Jesus’ arrival from Luke’s gospel this year, I’ve been thinking about the contrasts of grand and spectacular scenes with quiet scenes. The hustle and hubbub of a crowded Bethlehem during the registration shifts to the intimacy of mother with her newborn lying in a manger. God’s glory lighting the joyous singing of a multitude of angels in the fields becomes a much smaller conversation among the shepherds in the dark. The enthusiastic shepherds visit Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus then after they leave, Mary treasures and ponders all she has heard.
May we notice the love and presence of God in both the grand and the quiet scenes of our lives. God is here, with us in both spectacular and subtle moments. The God who comes to earth as a tiny baby clearly values both the powerful and the powerless, and is at work in the exceptional and the ordinary in our lives.
Blessings to you and all those dear to you as we continue to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Peace,