What manger scenes have you encountered: delicate ceramic figurines in a hand carved, wooden stable; life-sized plastic figures on someone’s lawn; elaborate Christmas displays brimming with poinsettia at a local Catholic Church? As nice as these may be, none of them compare to the real thing.
So treat yourself to a glimpse of the real baby Jesus this Advent-Christmas season. Take a few moments, each day to go back to Bethlehem and see this child. But before you leave for the first time, take a few minutes to get ready for the journey. Remember the births of babies in your family. Do you remember striking details? Did you have a Christmas birth in your family? Recall your experiences with newborn infants. Then travel back in time to visit the manger scene and think about the birth of Jesus. Ask yourself, “Who would I be in this scene –a shepherd, a stable hand, a fellow traveler, a relative of Joseph, the innkeeper, a shepherd or someone even more surprising? What is my impression of Jesus, Mary and Joseph?”
Stop and think about your own birth. Were you were born in a hospital, at home, in a car or someplace else? And then consider this. Just maybe, through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, you were also born in Bethlehem. Just maybe, God, our Creator, wants to cradle you alongside the Christ child and offer you the kind of new life that stretches all the way back to your beginnings!
“Not me!” you say. On days when you lack the strength to dwell in the Bethlehem scene, try this Advent prayer: Jesus, I am as empty as this manger. I place all the dark and lonely corners of my soul into your hands. I give you all the things that keep me from finding you. Help me wait for your presence. Help me surrender all of my emptiness to you, as I watch for the Christmas star. Be born in my heart once again. Amen.
For more about gathering with others to approach Bethlehem in song visit www.christmascarolfestival.com. And note the list of 2015 festivals or download our free Christmas Carol Song Sheet to help you on your journey.