Christmas. The celebration of the birth of our Savior.
What I take comfort most in the story of Christmas is the chaos.
I love the lights and the quiet in my time. It’s lovely to sit and soak in the silence and gaze at Christmas lights.
But quiet and beautiful ambience probably wasn’t on the menu at the time Christ was born. It was probably more like chaos. His family had been uprooted to please Caesar. HE had certainly been uprooted! He left the majesty of heaven.
The crowded accommodations. The noise. The smell.
No one noticing. A few shepherds stopped by. But Rome? The local governor? They had other things going.
This is our world. There are years I’ve almost stumbled into this day. The busyness and the hurry. The chaos of our world. Upheaval all around. I could barely breathe at times before Christmas, then would almost collapse into it.
I remember one year when we had to leave early on a flight ON Christmas. I was hauling the tree to the curb in the dark on Christmas morning.
But… that is just as “Christmas” as a Christmas when I get up slowly, have my coffee, sit and admire the tree, and have some quiet before the day really begins.
The past two years… WOW.
COVID. Variants. Political upheaval. Divisive times. We are almost stumbling into Christmas.
Yet… here we are. And here is Christ.
He came into chaos and noise and upheaval. He knows where we are in our time. And the invitation is still here for us: Come and bow down. Come, let us adore him.
Merry Christmas.
Apprentice 2 Jesus 