An Amplified Christmas Story
The Apostle Luke begins the second chapter of his book, “Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. 2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5 in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child.”
Now in the year of 2020 a decree went out from the United States Census Bureau that all the people be counted. This was the census taken while Donald Trump was in the fourth year of his presidency. Every person was responsible to be counted. So Dianne and I registered online, stating for the record our places of birth, ethnicities, dates of birth, and families of origin.
“6 While [Joseph and Mary] were [in Bethlehem], the days were completed for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
And in January of 2020 I penned by next book, dedicating it to seven young friends graduating from high school. It was intended for publication in May, but missing that date, I finally gave birth to the tome in August because it is unsuitable to publish a book during the summer. Dianne’s professional life was upset by the ensuing pandemic, our friends lost their lives and livelihoods, and our society twisted and writhed in duplicity and denial as the whole earth retreated from a virus and feared death.
“8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.”
In our region of the United States, life is cloistered, masked, and under siege. We are all vigilant, watching over our families and loved ones, guarding against the wolves of financial ruin, mental degradation, emotional despondency, human quarantine, and spiritual irrelevancy. We each are forming stories of 2020 that are terribly frightening. Yet, in the midst, myriad voices are declaring that we must not be afraid, that we must reorient, reinvent, and reengineer our lives. While inspirational, fear remains pervasive. Death has never been more imminent for so many. And the hospitals are full.
“10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
It’s not a good time for life to be interrupted. For all of us, our lives were pregnant with possibilities in February of 2020. Graduation. A sale. A purchase. A new line, product, angle, venture. Vacation. Trip abroad. Family. Celebration. But looking back, the birth was untimely, or at least, the time was untimely. There was no room. Yet, we are not supposed to be afraid. That exhortation begs the obvious question: Why should we not be afraid?
Even in 2020, the year of pandemic, the year of global suffering, there is good news. Our Savior has come. His birth was announced to the first destitute among us by myriad angels. His presence today is announced within our destitution by myriad signs and wonders that He who came on the first Christmas remains with us this Christmas.
“13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 ‘Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.’”
When a woman gives birth the pain is formidable, even torturous, perhaps the hardest of all labors. But when the newborn is placed on her breasts, the pain is absolved by the presence of the one who has come.
This year is about to take its place among the hardest years in human history. Universal suffering descended upon humanity, was unleashed upon us all, and brought with it death, doubt, disillusionment, and despondency. But in myriad manners Christ came to us, encouraged us, and reaffirmed to us that the One who came still comes, not just at Christmas in the angel’s “gloria in excelsis deo,” but in faithfulness, goodness, care, and with the hope that one day all things, including 2020, will be made right and peace will reign.
“15 When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, ‘Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.’ 16 So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. 17 When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.”
These rejects from society, the shepherds of Luke’s Christmas story, reasoned among themselves. Maybe they were so down on their luck that betting on the angel’s declaration was a better alternative. “What else do we have to do? Let’s go down to Bethlehem.”
Perhaps these reprobates and deplorables to society reasoned and said, “We should engage. Let’s go down to Bethlehem and see what we can find.”
The first rationale is resignation. The second is entrepreneurial.
Either way, they left their livelihood and known status and hurried to examine the manner in which Christ had come to them. And whatever status and pressures we face, the option to either remain mired in 2020 or focus on the Incarnate Christ belongs to us. The Christmas story is not ancient nor is it annual. It is this very moment, and the next, then the next. Christmas is what God does constantly.
On the one hand, we have never been more alone in a more disillusioning place, at least this is true for Americans. Others in the world have suffered similarly ahead of our dark night, but ours continues to unfold.
How society resolves its mess remains to be seen. As of this writing, it doesn’t look good for us. Our hand is weak and the stakes are high. The church plays from the same sheet of music the Lutheran Church played from in 1930. The wishful pronouncement of peace by Neville Chamberlain is espoused by the majority living in denial and the impudence of Churchill has not arisen.
However, the message of Christmas is a ringing bell that sounds each moment of every day throughout the year, every year: Christ is come. God is with us. We are no longer distant, separated, or marginal. Christ has come so that we may be brought near. God incarnate has removed every obstacle and impediment so that hope, life, and eternal security may be ours. All that remains is whether we stay with the flock on the hillside or hurry to see what the Christmas angels proclaim: “Glory to God in the highest, Christ has come to all mankind.”
And the shepherds hurried to Bethlehem. And all those beaten and bruised by 2020 can hurry to take note, Jesus Christ is present. He is God incarnate, God come to us, God made flesh so that we may be comforted and secured.
We celebrate Christmas each 25th of December, but in reality, the message that emerged from the first Christmas is that Christ continues to come, to incarnate God such that we can see and be comforted, not in the next life, but this one.
“19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.”
Mary knew Christ had come. Of course, she knew she had birthed a baby and named Him Jesus. But she believed what the angels declared, the shepherds acclaimed, and Joseph superintended. God had become a human. God had come to make a way for us, to care for us, and in a way that only a mother could comprehend, God had come in the infant she nursed was God incarnate to care for her. Mary treasured these things in her heart.
Mary treasured these things in her heart while reclining in a barn upon dusty straw, wearing a soiled dress, in a foreign town, with few provisions, no family save Joseph and a donkey, and the promise of a long ride home upon a very sore pelvis. Yet, she treasured.
The shepherds remained outcasts, living on the outskirts, destined to remain outside literally and figuratively for the duration of their days. Yet, they praised God.
Jesus Christ was born. God left heaven and came to us. His declaration, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” echoes down the ages constantly, every day, in every circumstance. War, suffering, the rise of governments, and falls of nations; martyrdom, mystery, disenfranchisement; forgotten, lonely, disregarded, demeaned; in panics, and pandemics His promise stands: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
End-of-year 2020 is imminent. New Year 2021 approaches. Grieve 2020 as is appropriate. Expect 2021 to reprise the foolishness of its predecessor. Choose your outlook this holiday season.
Treasure the myriad ways Christ has come to you these past months. Praise God as you continue herding the myriad cats of life in a pandemic. Merry Christmas is yours. Christ is come. God is incarnate. You cannot be forsaken by Him.
Or, you can watch for your $600 of governmental relief in the mailbox and pledge to treasure it when it arrives. You can praise Congress for your $600 relief and their $700 million in aid for Sudan; $135 million for Burma; $1.3 billion in military assistance for Egypt; $506 million for Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama that is attached to the relief bill allotting you your relief by the governmental lords overseeing your wellbeing.
Christ is come. Your $600 may or may not, depending on your income, married or single, the President’s option to veto, public outcry, or demand between now and then, whenever “then” is.
The option is yours.
Merry Christmas!
I invite you to participate with me in declaring the power and victory of Jesus Christ that is ours as His family. He came to bring life, and light, and hope, and victory no matter the cost or circumstance. To this end, Lifetime Ministries is dedicated. If you would like to participate, you can do so here.