I’m not sure if nativity scenes on Christmas cards actually catch the moment we should be remembering as this crazy year winds to a close. Don’t get me wrong—remembering the setting where the Christ child lay humbly in a manger, surrounded by Mary, Joseph, animals and shepherds is a healing and lovely reminder of how God came to us in the form of an infant. It offers us a vision of peace in times of turmoil and comfort when so much seems to be uncertain and broken.
But there is a scene prior to the Bethlehem manger scene that needs to be pondered during Advent and Christmas. Not the scene of the Holy Family making their way from Nazareth down to Bethlehem. Not even the image of the angels appearing to the shepherds who were watching their flocks by night in the fields. In fact, it is not something that can be depicted in artwork or stained glass windows. It is the moment when this world’s reality was shattered by the in-breaking of God’s full reality through the incarnation of Christ.
We glimpsed part of that divine moment when the angel told Mary that she would bear a son. We focus on that amazing moment when the gospel of John tells us how “the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory.” We humbly picture that miraculous moment through the hymn found in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, where it says “Jesus did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself and was born in human likeness.” Ultimately, God broke into our world. God shattered whatever barrier we imagine exists between earth and heaven and came to us—literally right beside us, in our very midst, into human history long ago as well as our present day and age.
To me, that changes every conversation we have had during the past year. God has broken into our world to offer healing, hope and redemption. God has broken into our world and been beside us, as we have witnessed a year of continued fighting in Syria and terrorist attacks around the world, as we celebrated another Olympics and yet struggled to rebuild after Hurricane Matthew, as Black Lives Matter and the Standing Rock protests continue to push for justice while the recent national election appears to reflect how our country has moved in a direction of fearfulness and isolationism.
If I truly believe in the Christmas represented by nativity scene cards and the scripture proclamation of Christ’s birth, then my first response to all historical events is to reflect on God’s presence in the midst of this world—weeping alongside God in Christ who weeps over our violent ways; speaking out beside the prophetic God in Christ who knows that silence and despair have no place in this world’s unfinished incarnation of a kingdom of justice and mercy and welcome. Christmas started when God said “Enough. I will come to you that you may find your way back to me and to one another.” May we remember that heavenly promise as cards are opened, presents are exchanged, and a world around us waits—waits—waits and hopes for the peace that passes all understanding.
—Rev. Dr. Randy Bush