Our homes, our Churches, the world, are all decorated. One in four of us (83 million) in the U. S. is travelling. Twenty-four million were finishing their shopping on Friday. Toys R Us was giving 25-50 % off. Macy’s was open all night. There’s even hope that Christmas sales will be up by 4 %. Barbee, Elmo dolls, I-pods, I-pads, fancy cell phones have been purchased. St. Francis of Assisi was asked once if he would fast a year that Christmas fell on a Friday. His response was, “Smear the walls with meat. With the birth of the Child, even the walls rejoice.” Hold nothing back. It’s Christmas!  

   God, unlike so much of the world, doesn’t sweat the packaging, but really delivers the goods. For to us a Child is born. Joseph and Mary went to be enrolled in the world, no room in the inn (homeless), born in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. The child was enrolled in human community, counted as one of us, swaddled in our humanity. The birth of the Savior began simply. Mary gave birth rather privately, but the event became public. People from afar even came. It was no ordinary baby. His life’s journey doesn’t take Him to a grand abode and luxurious self-indulging. His journey took Him to the cross. He let go of His divine life to be born like us. Christmas is filled with seeming contradiction. It’s not just His birth that the angel announces, but our birth to salvation.

   It’s a season of peace. We are to enjoy peace on earth, because we are born anew in God’s love and life. Heaven and earth have been reconciled with the birth. We are to make peace. It’s the season of forgiveness. We are to forgive, let others off the hook. It’s motivated by love. Without love, we can be insensitive, thoughtless. Light shines through love. The world is changed by love. Blessed Theresa of Calcutta, St. Francis of Assisi, Mary of Nazareth did. We can by doing what we ordinarily do with love, bearing hardships with love.

   Carols that began around Halloween, will be hushed, but the story lives on every day. May He love us today into a new birth. The One found in a manger is now found in bread given in memory of Him. We’re so appreciative that we do what He commanded as we gather every Sunday, until he returns.