We see them everywhere, except for government properties. Crèches or nativity scenes are almost ubiquitous, popping up on lawns all around the area. We have a few of them sitting around the house on tables, cabinets, and even windowsills. Some are pretty fancy, others quite simple. One is even an old Playskool set that the grandkids have arranged and rearranged for years.
One thing they all have in common however, is they all are pretty nostalgic or sanitized. We look upon them and imagine a Norman Rockwell or even a Currier & Ives world (my grandkids right now have no idea what I'm talking about), quiet and peaceful. In this world, as the song goes "little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes."
Of course, it didn't happen that way. Jesus was born to an unwed peasant girl who was temporarily homeless, and soon on the run for their lives. Life was brutal and harsh. Jesus didn't come into a sanitized, picturesque world where everyone lived happily ever after. We prefer that imaginary world, which I think is why the manger scenes continue to proliferate, despite the government's attempts to relegate them to the sidelines of the public arena.
Tonight, many of us will go to candlelight services where we will sing Christmas carols, hear the story once again, receive Holy Communion, and then depart quietly to our homes to await Christmas morning. Others will spend the evening perched on a bar stool, still others holding silent vigil by a hospital bed, and yet others huddled in fear. Much of the world is still ruled by present-day Herods who will show no mercy to those who dare challenge his authority. And yet Jesus is here, not simply the Babe in a manger, but the crucified and risen Christ who sits at the right hand of the Father with all authority in heaven and on earth. This same Jesus, the angels said, would return in power to deliver his people who still wait in hope for the fulfillment of the Promise of salvation and the deliverance of all Creation from the bondage to which it has been subjected by sin. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
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