Nativity of Our Lord - Christmas Day
Each Christmas many people make the trek “home” to friends and family—with all its wonders and challenges. Some travel great distances and others a few miles to experience a sense of connection and “being counted.” Joseph makes this journey with Mary, to be counted among his tribe for the government. Rather than a warm reception, a rich meal, or an extra bedroom, Joseph and Mary are dislocated and relegated to a stable. Yet it is precisely here that the great home-coming takes place. In the stable Jesus arrives and what began as an order of the Roman Empire becomes the in-breaking realm of God. The sense of family expands as shepherds, perhaps without place or family to be counted, enter. And, as the writer of Titus shares, through the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior, we see ourselves in the presence of God’s home-coming as heirs. No matter who we are or the journey traveled, the promise through this infant in Bethlehem is that we are called “The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord” (Isa. 62:12) and welcomed to God’s in-dwelling in the creation.
Christmas day calls each of us to experience home in a new or unique way, particularly God’s home among us and our place in the story. We come home not merely to a biological or created family, but take our place in the unfolding story of God. With the nervous parents, the smelly shepherds, and the chorus of messengers, we come to the stable where there is a place for each of us to again experience God’s overarching love and promise.
