There always seems to me to be two stories going on at the same time in the nativity story. There is the one where lots of spectacular things happen – angels appearing and wise men following stars and prophecies being fulfilled etc.
But then there is the simple ordinary story that no one would bother with normally. The story of a young woman from nowhere who is pregnant before she gets married (big deal); travelling to a place for registration because the government wants to tax them (that’s a new story, a government wanting to tax people – boring); she then has her child in a stable (slightly more interesting but not much (how many funny stories are there of children born in strange places – I heard of a better one the other day with a baby born in a toilet!).
Yet, its the thing that brings these two stories together that counts. The baby.
The baby is the one who the angels sing about and prophets write about and yet its the baby who is born in a very boring way. It’s this baby who comes to change the dull and ordinary into something wonderful and meaningful.
So although we may be very ordinary people with nothing remarkable in our own story that doesn’t matter because God is born into just the kind of life that we live. No great armies or palaces or record deals or Simon Cowel, etc just ordinary parents in a boring place. Yet this is the same one that the angels sing about. This is the life that changes the world.
I am grateful every day that it was into a life just like mine that God chose to be born into. This is what makes it the greatest story ever told.
Thoughts Christmas, Jesus, jesus christ
Just heard on the T.V. that in a survey of favourite carols for a couple of UK radio stations “O holy night” came out top. This was a bit of a surprise but my own guess is that people were voting on the tune rather than anything else.
I love a good Christmas carol myself and think they are an ideal way to celebrate the Christmas season. Carols are: uplifting, fun and they tell you something about the real Christmas story.
Personally, I’m not sure that “O holy night” qualifies as a carol (more of a Christmas song I would have thought).
Just in case you are interested, here is the top 5
1. O holy night
2. Silent Night
3. In the bleak mid-winter (to Darke’s tune).
4. Hark the herald!
5. In the bleak mid-winter (to Holst’s tune).
What is your favourite?
Thoughts Christmas
I like to do most of my Christmas shopping on the Internet. It’s easy and convenient and I can find lots of things that you just can’t get on the high street. However I am then dependent on deliveries – not so good. But now it’s too late to order anything more.
Mary and Joseph would have taken about three days to get the Bethlehem. Setting aside the fact that Jesus was not actually born on Dec 25th, by now (e.g. two days to go till Christmas) things were well under way. They would have been a day into the journey. We don’t know where they stayed on the way. They might have found somewhere with friends or perhaps slept in the open air.
After all that planning it was now just two days away from the birth of Jesus. What must things have been like in heaven at this point? My children are having trouble sleeping with only two days to go and that just over a few toys. What must things have been like as the great event was about to take place.
I don’t think God ever leaves anything to the last minute but no doubt there were still things to get right.
I guess most of us are pretty busy about now. Some of those who are still working will be stopping off at the shops on the way home or at least spending some time thinking about anything they might have forgotten. By now though some of those things will be too late.
But there is one thing that is never too late when it comes to Christmas and that is thinking about the message of Christmas. God so loved the world that he sent His only Son to save it.
In all the busyness of the season don’t forget to give a thought to Jesus. Why not start a new tradition on Christmas day – perhaps you could light a candle or say a prayer at dinner time or something. Just remember who Christmas day is about.
Thoughts Christmas, Jesus, religion
Not long to go now to the great day! Children are getting excited (as are parents and grandparents) about the new things they will enjoy on Christmas morning. This always makes me think about how God must have been feeling that first Christmas day.
Of course being God He would have known that everything would be fine but after all that planning and getting ready the great day was nearly here.
But what kind of day had he planned?
We are getting the party food in, wrapping the presents, going to Carol services (about 55% of us do apparently), decorating our houses.
Yet God’s plan involved getting the expectant couple to a small town called Bethlehem and making sure there was not any guests rooms available for them to stay in. We might assume from this that God has no plan and that God doesn’t really care and yet this is so far from the truth. It is wonderful that God allowed His son to be born in a stable. He didn’t even have a bed to sleep in. Wonderful because as an ordinary person from a working class background I know that God is just like me, one of us. Jesus could have been born anywhere but God chose to show us how he is just like one of us.
However God couldn’t resist a bit of something special and so he sends his angels to announce the birth. Not to Kings but to people just like us – shepherds. In truth they were some of the lowest members of society at the time.
There is then some wise men (not called Kings in the Bible) who follow a star to find Jesus. It’s good to know the wise men know where the answers are to be found.
Jesus was an ordinary bloke. Not some distant figure but one of us.
What a plan – thank you God.
Thoughts Christmas, Jesus
There always seems to me to be two stories going on at the same time in the nativity story. There is the one where lots of spectacular things happen – angels appearing and wise men following stars and prophecies being fulfilled etc.