The Christmas Journey (2 page)

B
ut the angel
said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

S
uddenly a great
company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

W
hen the angels
had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

S
o they hurried
off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

T
he story of
the manger scene is familiar to most of us…sweet little lambs looking over Jesus, doe-eyed cows and camels standing nearby gazing at the little Christ child, Mary and Joseph snuggled warmly together admiring the baby comfortable in his soft bed of hay, wise men and shepherds gathering to worship and giving gifts to the King in the warm, well lit stable, and always that magnificent star above to show the way. At least that’s the image greeting card companies and church pageants have painted over the years. Somewhere along the way the cave has been sanitized, the birth made painless, and the people involved stripped of all fear or emotion. It seems we have colored in or forgotten much of what happened to make that journey possible.

C
hristmas today is
a full-blown industry. Muzak fills malls and grocery stores with “Winter Wonderland” and “The Little Drummer Boy” before the Thanksgiving turkey is picked off the bone. Bell ringers take their places earlier each year and meteorologists forecast the mildest day to do that last-minute shopping. Cards with the scribbled signature of someone you vaguely know in the family tree cram your mailbox, and on TV a big-haired woman wearing an impish elf skirt and Santa hat sits on the side of a hot tub and invites you to buy one today at rock-bottom Christmas prices. Where has the wonderment gone? Where is the sense that one plus one somehow no longer equal two but add up to a million on that dazzling, holy, and remarkable day?

I
wrote this
several years ago for a church Christmas banquet. I read it as a narrative then, as a reminder, and still do today. I hope you will do the same…so you won’t forget.