What are the things that we find most difficult to  find time for during the Christmas season?

At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire.

(This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

All returned to their own towns to register for this census.

And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.

He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was obviously pregnant by this time.

And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.

She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn.

That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep.

Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened,

but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news of great joy for everyone!

The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David!

And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!”

Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God:

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and peace on earth to all whom God favors.”

When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Come on, let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

They ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.

Then the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child.

All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished,

but Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often.

The shepherds went back to their fields and flocks, glorifying and praising God for what the angels had told them, and because they had seen the child, just as the angel had said. Luke 2:1-20 NLT

This was a divine and unique time in history. The unseen, inaccessible God, Jehovah becomes human, a baby, within reach. Joseph is the least talked person in Christ’s birth played an essential role. Joseph had time, 9 months to grasp the significance of what is happening in his wife’s womb. But he was in a difficult spot; a father who is not a father call do defend his wife’s virtue and raise the Messiah. I don’t’ think 9 months is enough time. Now Christ’s first cries mark the Messiah’s entry to earth, in the flesh.

Speaking of time. Nazareth to Bethlehem was a three to four day trip for Joseph and Mary. A pregnancy is about 270 days. What’s with Joseph travelling when Mary is near full term, Was Joseph a procrastinator? A poor planner? Maybe he was a little thick– putting his very pregnant teenage bride on the back of a donkey for a three day ride. You would think time would be a priority for Joseph, An Angel appeared, telling him that his wife was carrying the Son of God, Christ the Messiah, the one destined to save humanity, was in his wife’s womb? Would he not take all the time necessary to make sure the child was safe?

Wouldn’t you?

I was smug, until Joelle our oldest reminded me that Cheryl and I did same thing when she was born. We were living in Southern California, and the Doctor was concerned that Cheryl was way over due. Her last visit he said. I’m not going to deliver the baby. I’ll give you a letter to go home, if you will be on a plane in 24 hrs. Joelle was born a few days later.

To be fair, how could Joseph truly understand, there was no example to follow. The idea of this unseen child being God was at best a hope, still a concept not reality. Everything changes the moment Joseph and Mary look into his eyes and hear their new born cry. Christ is alive,

We have the same challenge from the other side. So much time has passed. So much history has cluttered that defining moment. Seeing the Christ child in most of our Christmas traditions is a faint hope, no more than a concept to some, a myth, and, a great money maker for many others. Even for those of us who call ourselves Christian, followers of Christ, this season, this time of remembering Christ born as the Son of God often loses its poignancy, its power.

We will take time for many things this season, arguably good things. I love the traditions: the lights, trees, gifts, the parties, I enjoy the choirs and symphony’s, even the cheesy church plays, but in all this we risk taking time from what is most important. We risk the baby becoming the disembodied Christ, floating, out there, but no longer engaging our spirit.How do we recapture His first cry of life, that moment of birth? How does Christ become alive for us again?

Parker Palmer has something to say about this in his video interiew “The Risk of Incarnation” :It is a 5 minute video well worth viewing http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/index.php?ct=store.details&pid=V01023

Time, we must take the time to nurture Christ’s spirit. For some of us it is to give time for His spirit to be refreshed in us. For others of us it is to allow Christ’s spirit to be birthed in us, for the first time. To be fully human, all we were created to be is to hear the baby cry, to really hear the baby cry,

Read the song “Lullaby for an anxious Child”  and picture Joseph holding the fretting baby Christ beside a sleeping Mary.

 Hush child

Let your mommy sleep in to the night until we rise

Hush child

Let me soothe the shining tears that gather in your eyes

Hush child

I won’t leave I’ll stay with you to cross this Bridge of Sighs

Hush child

I can’t help the look of accusation in your eyes

In your eyes

The world is broken now

All in sorrow

Wise men hang their heads

Hush child

Let your mommy sleep in to the night until we rise

Hush child

All the strength I’ll need to fight, I’ll find inside your eyes

In your eyes Lyrics copy write EMI publishing, Sumner, Gordon/Miller Dominic

(Sting does a lovely rendition on his album “If on a Winters night”)

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His ever expanding, peaceful government will never end. He will rule forever with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David. The passionate commitment of the LORD New Almighty will guarantee this!

Isaiah 9: 6-7 New Living Translation

Can you hear the baby crying?

How will you take the time to make Christ real in your life this season?

What can you do to make  Him real to others?

We have a new person (a wee person) in the Urban Bridge community. Jenna and Barry Shankland are the proud new parents of Oliver Keith Shankland! Congratulations Jenna and Barry!