Recently, I had a conversation with a friend, about preparing for Christmas, and she was talking about the stress of it all. Not only is there the challenges of thinking of the perfect gift for each person on your list… but then there is the shopping, the wrapping, the meal planning, the grocery shopping… and on top of all of that, finding a day that everyone could gather. Especially with the challenges of mixed and blended families,who gets actual Christmas day, etc etc… and then of course there is the unpredictable weather factor. …. It can all be so daunting.
I confess, there have definitely been years when I have gotten myself quite upset about all of those things, because no matter what I might have been trying to pull together, I was never able to check off all the boxes, and have it come together perfectly. It seemed something always went wrong, and although it seemed that no one else noticed….. I knew. This wasn’t quite the way I had pictured it all going.
2000 years ago, there was another family whose Christmas didn’t quite go according to their picture. That very first Christmas, when Jesus was born, none of it happened the way Joseph and Mary might have pictured it. The census meant that they had to travel so very far from home… away from Mary’s mother, and Aunt’s who would have otherwise attended the birth and helped her through her labour. Mary & Joseph arrive in Bethlehem, only to find that there is no room in the inn… no one seemed to have mercy to take in this poor frightened young woman, heavy with child. The only place for them to stay was a stable- a dirty, smelly old stable. This frightened couple, about to bring their first child into the world, had no one to help them in this exciting and terrifying time… just the barnyard animals.
And yet, into that incredibly imperfect, unplanned, seemingly unacceptable circumstance…. our Saviour was born.This incredibly imperfect situation was completely perfect. None of the details that Mary and Joseph might have been so worried about actually mattered.
The Saviour of the world came into the midst of the unplanned, unexpected, terribly flawed circumstances…. And brought grace, and peace, and hope, and joy and love.
This Christmas, come and join us once again, to hear the sacred story… to sing the old familiar Christmas hymns… celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus. Be with us as we remember that Jesus, our Lord and Saviour will come into the mess and imperfection of our own lives too, bringing tidings of comfort and joy. For unto us, a Saviour is born.
May his peace and grace be with you and all whom you love, this Christmas and forever.
Christmas Eve
5:00 pm at St. Philip’s, MIlford
7:30 pm at St. Andrew’s, Wellington
Christmas Day
10:00 am at St. Andrew’s, Wellington
