This post is part of the blogger roundtable for the Patheos Book Club on The Season of the Nativity by Sybil MacBeth.
The Hallmark Channel has just begun showing Christmas movies. Television and radio remind us that Christmas is coming, and entice our children and grandchildren with gifts whose cacophony, violence, and materialism drowns out the message of the Prince of Peace. Only 54 (as I write today) days to Christmas. Hurry, don’t get left behind, find the perfect gift, don’t be the only parent or grandparent who forgets to purchase this year’s “must have” toy or game. Hurry, shop early, buy online, or beat the crowds at the Mall. Wear yourself out, for Santa Claus is coming to town. You better watch out, you might miss a bargain or be the only one without the season’s rage.
Sybil MacBeth invites us to savor the Nativity Season, to linger, and stretch it out, to pause and notice, and become part of the story. Savor the Season Nativity like a good meal with friends, a walk on the beach, a novel that neither toils nor spins, a good Scotch, a Godiva chocolate, a moment of stillness. Don’t hurry, notice, pause and consider, “what gives you hope?” Advent need not be the heart of the Christmas rush. It can be the heart of wonder and hope. Stay awake, don’t get drunk on busyness, breathe deeply the chill air (in the Northern hemisphere), smell the smoke from chimneys, and cookies baking. Be still, experience your own pregnancies, and ponder what is about to be born in your life.
Mary encounters an angel, and says “yes” to unwed motherhood. She risks everything to give birth to light and life and love. No qualification except willingness and a heart open to possibility or is it impossibility that inspires Mary’s affirmation?
Christmas need not be a letdown or a wear down. The word and wisdom of God is here in a manger, in the flight of immigrants, in threats from heartless rulers, in the journey of strangers from strange lands, in smelly shepherds. Christmas is the season of light and darkness. Yes, on the darkest night, a bright star bursts forth guiding our pathway. But, in the midst of confusion, the darkness also reveals the holy – Joseph’s dream, “go marry the girl, don’t worry about what the neighbors think” and the Magi’s nocturnal warning, “get out of town, don’t stop, go,” bypass Jerusalem and the threat to innocence.
The Holy Family – Mary and Joseph and the wee one on the way – journey under duress; first to Bethlehem, discovering no place to stay. Imagine, our savior born in a barn! Imagine, God incarnate in every little child, yearning for love. Imagine, the children longing for homes and families and safety. The Holy Family – now a threesome – alerted by Joseph’s dream to get out of town, to flee as political refugees to Egypt. I wonder – did they see picket signs warning them not to settle in Egypt? The Christ-child survives, not by magic or miracle, but through the kindness of strangers, regular folks who didn’t think they were doing anything special, who just saw a family in need, not God’s gift to the world. Could you be the kind stranger saving Christ today? What stranger or immigrant will come as Christ to us?
Christmas is time to be a child – to wonder and hope and dream, to rejoice in carols and cake and cookies, to party, knowing the word becomes flesh in your skin and bones, and it is good.
Epiphany is the time of strange visitors. Magi journey from far off lands, revelations come in all sorts of sizes, shapes, and ethnicities. The word and wisdom of God defies boundaries; it shows up anywhere and everywhere, and right here and now. Who are the magi in your midst? Are you a wise one, and what gift will you bring to the party?
Angels everywhere, wonder abounding, God in our midst, and beauty all around us – that’s the Season of Nativity. Light the candles, draw pictures, play with children, and rejoice in the Season Nativity.
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