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Christmas Day – “Between the Manger and Heaven”

It is here – Christmas Day.  Today the Church celebrates the Nativity of Our Lord.  Christianity is founded on this amazing truth – that God entered the world taking on humanity to share in our suffering and to rule over all of God’s creation.  Jesus’ life began in a Manger in Bethlehem and the joyous news of God’s coming to Shepherds watching sheep at night:

Luke 2:10-12 “… the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:  to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger."

What did it mean?  That God had come to fix the world’s mess and symbolically he did so by entering a place of Mess. The ancient prophecy has come to life:

 “Unto US, a child is born, Unto US, a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!”

Bethlehem means “House of Bread”, and Jesus is born to feed His people and bring them to life in Him.  Unto us is born a baby that will shake the world and change it forever.
Unto us is born a baby who is silently, wondrously given by God, His Father, though no one but his parents and a few anonymous shepherds know what has just happened.  The Manger has become the House of Christmas.

G.K. Chesterton said it well today in his Christmas poem:  The House of Christmas

There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honor and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.

A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam,
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost – how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky’s dome.

This world is wild as an old wives’ tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.

May we each find our Home in Christ Our Lord and join in the Song of Angels to proclaim: 

Luke 2:14 - “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Merry Christmas to you, and may you feel His Peace!

Peace

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