Christmas Story Rethink: Welcoming the Christ Child Every Day of the Year
Unto Us a Child is Born
I grew up in the Lutheran church, where every Sunday in December we lit the Advent candles in anticipation of the arrival of the Christ child. Every night at home my sister and I listened to my dad read from Isaiah. We sang songs my mom taught us, like “Away in the Manger,” and “The Friendly Beasts,” while we stared in wonder at the candles of our home Advent wreath.
Especially what stuck with me, to be honest, is the story Linus tells (from the book of Luke at the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas). Whether we’re religious or not, the holiness of the nativity scene is part of our collective consciousness.
For me, everything about Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus in the manger feels sacred to me, as hushed and as magical as a new fallen snow. The star marks the spot, the blessed animals and angels herald the scene, the shepherds come to see, and the three wise men bring the gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
According to scholars there was indeed a celestial occurrence around that time, and learned men followed it to locate the Christ child, but they probably didn’t arrive until a couple of years later, when the family would’ve already been hiding out in Egypt to avoid King Herod’s murderous rampage against every male baby that was Jesus’ age. And you think we live in turbulent times!
Does it matter that the manger scene we know so well is likely never to have happened the way we picture it? For me, it’s the spirit, rather than the letter, that makes the story significant. And its profound meaning deepens and changes as our lives change.
Twenty Christmases ago, we were expecting our first and only child. I didn’t know then that she would be a girl, grown now into a remarkable young woman. All I knew back then was that I was barely one month pregnant, and already everything was different — and nothing would ever be the same.
That Christmas Eve for me felt extraordinary, even holy. I prayed quite a bit, thinking a lot about Mary — how strange she must have felt when an angelic vision told her that she was chosen to bring the Christ child into the world. Even though she was probably just a teenager, Mary was one tough gal who never allowed anxiety or fear to get the best of her. Unshaken, she simply trusted God.
The angel Gabriel told her the child would be a boy, and even what to name him — Jesus (Yeshuah is the name in Hebrew, meaning “Savior”). Joseph was one exceptional guy, too. Finding out his fiancée was pregnant, he could’ve bailed. But like Mary, Joseph was an unwavering believer.
While he was turning their predicament over and over in his mind, an angel interrupted his fitful sleep to let him know God’s plan for his betrothed, and he obeyed without hesitation.
Six months earlier, Mary’s older cousin, Elisabeth, had conceived against all odds. Her baby, too, had been announced by the angel Gabriel, when he’d visited her husband Zechariah to give him the unlikely news. So it’s no wonder Mary and Joseph decided it would be best to lay low at her cousin’s house for awhile.
Imagine what their families must’ve thought! But if anyone was going to understand the miracle they were coming to grips with, it was Elisabeth and Zechariah. As the story goes, Elisabeth’s baby leaped in her womb the minute Mary showed up. And about 30 years later, that child became John the Baptist — the man who paved the way for Jesus’ ministry to begin.
These biblical accounts were written many decades after the fact. Were these birth stories exaggerated by the apostles who wrote them? Possibly. Some scholars say Luke was a bit off on the date, that there wasn’t a census taken then, and that Jesus’ birth place probably wasn’t even Bethlehem. Could be.
Were Mary and Joseph just two crazy kids in love? Maybe once they saw how unusual their son was — especially after his bar mitzvah during Passover, when he stayed behind at the temple to hang out with the rabbis, and already seemed smarter than all of them put together — maybe that’s when they started to embellish the story of his birth to justify his genius.
Maybe they told bigger and bigger tales about their son Jesus, until he started to believe it all himself. Might be.
No matter how it happened, because his parents believed in miracles, Jesus was led to take a unique path towards God. And whatever it is that anointed him — that “Christedness” that made Jesus larger-than-life — this one man has arguably changed our world more than any other person who has ever lived.
Did Jesus grow up to be the Messiah? Was Jesus the son of God? Was Jesus our Savior? Is Jesus your Savior? And what is a Savior, anyway? Each of us has to answer these important questions for ourselves.
For me, Jesus’ teachings guide my life. The lessons often come in surprising ways.
Divine Parenting — Cherishing the Christ Child
One December, when our daughter was a toddler, I was pushing her stroller on Main Street amongst last-minute Christmas shoppers. On one corner stood a live nativity scene, including a lissome woman dressed as an angel.
She trumpeted a medieval horn, and beckoned to passersby, “Come! See the child!” Mary and Joseph, too, would call out, and along with the shepherds and wise men, the whole group randomly hummed.
It sounded a little weird — a cross between a Gregorian chant and a New Age mantra — sometimes jubilant, sometimes somber. As some folks approached, the ensemble would sing a little louder, as if something were about to happen.
Like most people, I actually wasn’t sure I wanted to stop to “see the child.” It felt a little odd, a bit scary, a little too mysterious.
But our two-year-old wasn’t doubtful in the least. “What is that?” she asked, intrigued. “Can we go see?”
A few other people walked up to see the child, and left with big smiles. I remained hesitant, but our daughter urged me to push her stroller closer.
Composer and performance artist Aletha Nowitzky, the nativity scene’s creator who also played the angel, explains, “People would stand a few feet away, thinking, ‘isn’t that a nice little scene,’ but we wanted to get them up close so they would see there was a punch line to this.”
She had instructed the performers to “make any sounds that they wanted, to show that they were in awe. Quiet, at first, adoring the child, being present with that whole concept and thought. And as people would come near, we would call out, so that they would know it was okay to approach us — that it wasn’t just something to look at from far away.”
When my daughter and I reached Mary and Joseph, they said again, “Come, see the child!”
Then Mary opened her armful of swaddling clothes to reveal…a mirror. “See God’s child! God’s child is beautiful!” they all proclaimed.
My daughter giggled with delight, and said, “look at that, Mommy!”
And I laughed too, assuring her as we said good-bye. “You are God’s child, just like the baby Jesus, and you are beautiful.”
That moment of recognition, for me, was a powerful reinforcement of a spiritual fact that gets me through each day: Every one of us is a perfect reflection of God — directly connected, fully able to convey the unstoppable Power of Love.
As Mary Baker Eddy puts it in Science & Health (p. 516), “As the reflection of yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God.” This Divine essence is the Christ, ever-present in all of us.
Each one of us born is a brand new idea, conceived in the Mind of God, brimming with unlimited potential. As parents raising our children, let us daily welcome and nurture that Christ child in ourselves and in everyone we meet, whether neighbor or enemy.
Over the years, I’ve found that living my prayers in this way is the only way to be. After all, isn’t that the message of universal love that Jesus taught and lived? Every child born is a miracle.
©2017 Janis Hunt Johnson and CS Renewal Ministries. All rights reserved.
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A spiritual author/editor/prayer coach/healer, an interfaith advocate and spiritual activist, my mission is to teach, preach, and heal — following Jesus’ example. If you like this piece, please support my work by clapping for it, and please kindly pass it on, follow me and subscribe, too!
This post is the 3rd installment of my Medium series, “Christian Science Redux.” Find healing and learn to be a healing presence for others when you read Five Smooth Stones: Our Power to Heal Without Medicine Through the Science of Prayer, which won Finalist, Spirituality category, in the 2010 National Indie Excellence Awards. Read a sample of my upcoming second book, tentatively titled Seven Words to Freedom, Eight Days a Week: The Healing Power of Living Prayer, in which I take a deep dive into the original Hebrew of the Shema and demonstrate its power to heal. For humor and newstalgia,* read my “60-Something” musings. Connect with me on Goodreads, on Twitter @CSRenewal, on Facebook, on Pinterest @CSRenewalMinistries and across cyberspace. #deconstruction #LivingPrayer #EveryDayIsAHoliday
*newstalgia: My word for loving the past with an eye toward a hope-filled future.
Note: A portion of this piece was adapted from my article “Magic Moments: The Christ Child Within” in December 2001 on www.spirituality.com, no longer available.
