Getting Lost in the Woods

What was it like on the night that Christ was born? Beloved artwork and treasured Christmas songs offer a sense that Christ’s birth was an occasion of quiet, peaceful beauty.   Parents serenely gazing at their perfect child.   Sheep, donkey, and cows sleeping restfully alongside the newborn.   Harmonious angels announcing the good news to shepherds and their flock.  Maybe  it was just like that…  …I’ve come to imagine something quite different though.   Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph have travelled to Bethlehem because the Roman Emperor has ordered a census; apparently requiring everyone to travel back to their hometowns to be registered.   This meant  all sorts  of people would have been traveling.  No wonder there was no room for them at the inn! Bethlehem would have been anything but a peaceful, idyllic village.  Rather, it would have been crowded; homes overflowing with distant relatives; friends reuniting over small outdoor fires with food and spirits.  I think it's safe t

There are many ways that we mark time.  From the lunar cycle; to the changing seasons; to days, weeks, months, and years.  In the Church, we mark time using a church calendar and a liturgical year.  Liturgy is our work for God; work that transforms our world and benefits the public. 1. In order to stay grounded in that work, we use the church calendar and liturgical seasons to keep God’s story, and our response to it, ever in front of us.  The calendar has a way of mirroring back our mission and values. In their book, Walk in Love , Melody Wilson Shobe and Scott Gunn write:  “How we measure time says something fundamental about how we think, what we value, and what we work toward and long for. The way that we measure our time says something about what really matters to us.” 2  One church in Virginia created a visual of how the Church marks time, and they made the image widely available for other communities. 3  You’ll see in this image that the church year is a circle, ever in motion.