Happy Christmas! In this festive episode we share – and then judge – our Christmas micro-sermons. Also we think about the practices that will nourish us this Christmas and reflect on how the darkness and worry of the nativity stories does not diminish the life and hope.
Not, perhaps the most polished episode – which is saying something – but heartfelt nevertheless. In particular I’ve been struck this year by the way in which the nativity stories take place against a backdrop of fear and trouble. Virtually everyone in the story is ‘afraid’ or ‘troubled’: Mary, Joseph and the shepherds are told by angels not to be afraid. Even Herod the Great is terrified at the news of a potential rival.1 Even when Mary and Joseph return they are afraid to stay in Judea because of Herod Archelaus (a ruler so appallingly violent and inept that the Romans sacked him).
So in this time when so many of us are facing the future with misgivings and apprehensions, it seems important to take one of the themes of the story to heart: God is with us. Do not be afraid. There are good tidings.
We so easily fear the worst. But maybe we can also hope for the best, not in a naïve way, but in a positive, active manner. The Christmas story is a story of surprises: the promised king turned out to be a peasant baby in an animal’s feeding trough. So my prayer for you this Christmas is that things don’t turn out as you fear. That maybe there is a different story to be told.
And, as Joe puts it in the podcast: Remember everyone – you’re still alive, and that’s a wonderful thing!
Have a happy Christmas everyone.
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Matthew 1:20; 2:3, 22; Luke 1:29; 2:10 ↩︎