Nine months the
Baby has been nourished
In his mother’s womb
By the food she has eaten
And the respite she has taken.
Nine months since
The angel Gabriel
Came to Mary and
The gift humbly accepted.
Mothering the Son of God
Believing, with all the strength that she has inside.
Nine months since
The angel Gabriel
Came to Joseph and the
Gift humbly accepted.
Fathering the Son of God
Trusting, without knowing what the future holds.
Nine months since
Parents Joachim and Anne,
Elizabeth and
Zechariah, lovingly
Ignored the judging humans.
Faithful, living into the will of the living God.
In the year 2020 there have been…
Nine months since
We have changed our ways of
Living into the gifts
And inspiration given
To us through divine wonder.
Are your ears
Primed to hear the angels
singing their glorias?
To see the shepherds rushing
Confirming what angels sing?
The Messiah
Is born in the manger!
God’s light fills the room!
Expanding into the world
And the far distant cosmos!
For all times
In all places and hearts
In the midst of greatest joy
and when challenges abound
A child will be born to you.
Stars aligned
A child is born for you!
God became
Life will begin anew
It is the season of light
Filled with good will towards all!
This year the Children’s Christmas Pageant at Saint Paul affected me in new ways spiritually, as well as causing me to laugh out loud many times! Children and their families were fueled with great imagination when dramatizing the scriptures of the Nativity.
- When viewing the boys portraying shepherds in the field, I began to consider, when have I run away in terror when the angels only have a message for me?
- When listening to the sheep bleat out her words, you cannot help but laugh in surprise. Yet we certainly listened more carefully and saw her as a sheep than if the words had been pronounced in the usual way.
- When the Magi majestically walked down the side of their home with the child leading the parents and humbly knelt down with their gifts at the manger, I wanted to kneel down beside them and adore the Christ child.
- When the angels and Mary’s brought good news of great joy in beautiful ways, the Bethlehem star (played by a toddler) brought a sweet innocence to the scenes, and the piano and saxophone players tied the scenes together with beautiful Christmas carols.
A simple Children’s Christmas Pageant brings us back to a time in our lives when we may have played those same parts. It illustrates the need to come to the manger from our true essence that resides deep inside our hearts. In the moment we release tendencies to think everything revolves around us, we are prepared to come as an eager child with wonder and delight to meet “God who becomes human so that we might become truly human.” *
May we be overwhelmed with the gift of love!
Christmas blessings to you!
Rev. Marta Wheeler
*Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God is in the Manger. week 4, p. 52.