Christmas Bulletin

The joy and peace of Christmas be with you! Today we begin our Christmas season, pondering the story of Christ's birth, the visitation of God revealed in the life of one who made his home with us. Not a home made of wood and stone, with a roof for protection, but a home in the human soul, made in the image of God, covered in grace.

A religious symbol of Christmas, one found in our chapel, in homes, on mantels, under Christmas trees, is the Nativity scene, or crèche. Simple images and figures conveying profound meaning. Attributed to St. Francis, the crèche reminds us of the events and conditions surrounding Jesus' birth.

As we look at our crèche scene, we remember the moment God appeared--a moment of great rejoicing--was grim. Cold, dark, lonely. Christ's birth was at an hour covered in darkness, in a village discomforted in the cold, his parents alone in a shelter for animals to hold and comfort their new child. Not a hospitable beginning. God came to be with the human family and would be found, not in a home, or even a sacred building, or among the rich and powerful, but in a place signifying the reality of the human experience, often touched by sorrow and suffering, darkness and cold, broken promises and betrayal, loneliness and emptiness.

Ironically, that is the good news. God is found not only in well being and happiness, prosperity and fortune, community and companionship. Today, we can believe and trust to find God in the shadows and dark places, in our grief and poverty and illness, in our brokenness and disbelief, in our sin and failure and loneliness. Today, as we open gifts and share presents, as we gather with family and friends, as we eat and drink and make merry, we will remember that on this day our celebration is also about the gift of God's compassion and mercy present in the darkness, the cold, the loneliness of the human condition. This is where the Christmas story begins.

With an awareness of God's mercy revealed in the Son's birth, we look deeper into the symbol of our Nativity scene. There is one piece in the scene, when we consider its purpose, revealing a symbolism that suddenly becomes clear. It is the crèche.

At the center of the scene Jesus rests in a crèche, a manger. A manger was used as a trough in which food was placed for animals. Its Latin root means “to eat.” Animals gathered at a manger to feed. The manger is the place where Jesus rests. He came to be our food.

The imagery of the our Christmas crèche points us to the Eucharist. The manger used as food for animals becomes open hands to receive the bread of Christ. The hay to fill the manger is replaced with the child Emmanuel, God with us, food to satisfy the deepest human hunger. The animals gathered at the manger become those who come to the Eucharistic table to be one and at peace.

This symbolism invites further meaning and insight as we move from the Nativity of Jesus’ birth to the paschal mystery, Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection. The earth upon which the crèche rests will one day hold up the cross on which the Lamb of God will scatter the dark and cold and loneliness of sin and sorrow. An empty tomb will become the new crèche, the sign of a second birth, a new life bathed in the light, warmth, and presence of God for all those who believe.

This Christmas day fill us with joy and peace. We rest with the one who came to us as a child, laying in a manger, beckoning us to come and receive the gift of his presence, the one who came to forgive and to love us, to feed and to nourish us, to make his home with us.

Have a blessed and grace filled Christmas!