A Not So Clean Christmas

The Prairie Parsonage Kids- All Cleaned Up!

It's a brown Christmas Eve as the bells of the Lutheran church are playing carols in our sleepy little town.  While I love the warmer temps, I hate a brown Christmas.  There is something about a fresh blanket of white snow that gives this time of year a magical feel.

My family and I have celebrated Christmas today by opening gifts.  We are preparing both outwardly and inwardly for our worship service tomorrow.  It seems like each year, a different aspect of Christmas comes to my attention.  Last year, it was the wisemen following a star to find the savior of the world.  This year, it is the savior himself that has capitivated me. 
The other night I was rocking KJ to sleep as Little E and The Rev. were reading bedtime stories.  The outdoor Christmas lights gave a soft glow in the darkened room.  I couldn't help but think of Mary rocking her baby Jesus.  As I sat in a glider rocker in a warm home, over 2000 years ago a young woman, barely more than a girl, sat on a cold barn floor caring for her little son.

I laid my little girl down in a safety tested crib with soft cotton sheets washed in specially made baby detergent.  KJ was dressed in microfleece; warm and snuggled in.

Mary, on the other hand, laid the love of her life down in a cold feed trough, lined with scratchy hay.  He was wrapped in swaddling clothes.  Nothing fancy.  Just ordinary swaddling clothes.  I can imagine the cows giving an occassional moo and the sheep letting out a baa as sweet baby Jesus slept.  The King of Glory, small and meek.

Today, we live in a disinfected world.  We have wipes to clean pacifiers, special brushes to clean bottles, hand cleaners to kill germs.  We want to make sure that our babies are safe.  Jesus, on the other hand, was surrounded by farm animals, manure and muck. 

Our savior choose to enter this world not with fanfare and glory, but with humble simplicity.  God did not roll out the red carpet (or the Peg Perego) of baby gear for a king, but rather gave Him a faithful mother and a loyal father.

There is a lesson in that.  Out of all of the gifts given to our children today, the greatest gift the Rev. and I can give them is to parent like Joseph and Mary parented.  To be faithful to God, loving to each other and loyal to our heavenly Father.
These insights are nothing new.  It's just that no matter how many Christmases go by, no matter how many December 25ths I will see in my lifetime, I will never be able to fully comprehend what God did for me.  My mind nor heart will fully be able to grasp how a tiny baby, with 10 little fingers and 10 little toes became the person that will bridge what was a once the great unbrideable chasm between me and God.  Even  I live another 32 years or more, I will never understand how a baby, born in a filthy stable can make my heart clean.

Just a few Christmas thoughts from a quiet prairie parsonage tonight. May you find sometime to reflect on the very first, very dirty Christmas.  For me, it's off to do a little cleaning before turning in.  Merry Christmas to you!