Christmas

The Shepherds, The Wise Men, and The Rest of Us

Karen Brown1 Comment
Photo by Jeff Brown

Throughout Advent, I’ve been pondering Immanuel, or “God with us” and about how True Love came to stay. In my previous post, I shared how I’m discovering that living with God is about receiving His love one day at a time. Actually, I knew that before, but apparently life requires relearning.

I spent four weeks prayerfully arranging our nativity set as an Advent-long devotion. I read and considered what each Christmas character says about Immanuel. It wasn’t a perfect study, but I was readier for Christmas than I’ve been in a long time.

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God With Us

Karen Brown4 Comments
Photo by Jeff Brown

This Advent (and year) has been one of wanting. Wanting more fun, more good news, and someone else to cook dinner. Wanting more of my family and much less of them at the same time. Wanting things to be normal but also everything to be different. Wanting Covid to go away forever.

And if you remember where we left off last time, I had just confessed that I want Immanuel, or “God with us” to mean more than it does.

For the record, I can’t remember a day in my life when I didn’t love Jesus. I’ve prayed and gone to church since forever. I’ve collected shelves of books and Bible studies about God. I’ve taken classes, retreats, and even answered a call to ministry.

Sometimes, in all of our coming and going, we forget what love looks like.

How could we forget? We were made from love, for love, and to know it when we see it. True Love, that is…

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The Manger

Karen Brown2 Comments

When our kids were little, they loved playing with a toy farm set. It had a tractor, baby animals, and a hay loft. I still laugh about the time when they were playing and my daughter held up the toy food trough and asked her brother, “Where should we put Jesus’ bed?” Bless those small, churchy, city slickers.

Our farm toy was loved to death and is long gone. High-chairs have been given away, bunkbeds have been dismantled, and we’re finally past braces and birthday sleepovers. The only tangible remainders are a few choice toys and favorite books that I’ve carefully stored away in hopes of grandchildren. Someday.

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The Donkey

Karen Brown1 Comment
Photo by Jeff Brown

So far in our Advent story, we’ve been traveling back and forth from Nazareth to Bethlehem, so it’s only fair that we give the donkey a nod.

Donkeys, a common mode of transportation in Biblical times, are hard working and trainable. They can handle rough terrain and heavy loads. Sounds like a perfect ride for 90 miles, a pregnant wife, and a tight schedule.

Donkeys have been carrying burdens long before that trip to Bethlehem. One donkey joined Abraham and Isaac on their heartbreaking hike toward an impossible sacrifice.

And a donkey walked with Moses on his nervous trip to Egypt for convincing Pharaoh to let God’s people go.

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The Angel

Karen Brown1 Comment
Photo by Jeff Brown

If you’ve been with me since the first day of Advent, you know that Mary, Joseph, and even a few animals are now waiting in our stable. Since he’s already made a couple of appearances, the angel should be next.

Our famous Christmas angel, Gabriel, appeared long before Jesus’ birth in the Old Testament book of Daniel:

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Joseph

Karen Brown4 Comments
Photo by Jeff Brown

Have you been following along on our Advent road? The stable and animals are waiting patiently in Bethlehem, and we’re still with Mary in Nazareth.

You can’t get too far in Mary’s story without meeting Joseph, her betrothed (fiance). I imagine he would introduce himself something like this: I am Joseph of Nazareth, from the line of David. I am a humble carpenter who wants to lead a family in the ways of God. I’m soon to be Mary’s husband.

I learned the name Joseph means, “he will add”. It’s the perfect name for a carpenter, isn’t it? Fixing, building, creating. I imagine he promised all of what his name means to Mary. Join me. I can make a good life for us.

Whatever he imagined with Mary, it couldn’t have included anything like this:

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Mary

Karen Brown3 Comments
Photo by Jeff Brown

Now that the stable and animals are in place, The Story takes us about 90 miles northwest to Nazareth, in the northern highlands of Galilee. There, we find a teenage girl. A virgin who was visited by the angel Gabriel and told she would become pregnant with the Son of God. Mary, the one who agreed to it all.

“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

Luke 1:38

I doubt Mary knew the full extent to what she was agreeing, but I’d bet she knew enough. At her age, it’s likely she’d seen enough of childbirth to know of the fear, pain, and blood. She certainly had experienced enough of human nature and gossip to predict the shame. She surely understood it would be easy for Joseph to abandon her. She had probably learned enough of God’s Story to know that entering it would be costly.

Mary said yes to much more than a baby. Like all consenting mothers, she grabbed her chance for possibility and promise, even when it came with risk, suffering, and lots of mystery.

And isn’t that how it goes with every Yes to God? God comes with His strange, shadowed plans and somehow we agree. Are we really that desperate?

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The Animals

Karen Brown4 Comments
Photo by Jeff Brown

Now that I’ve got our nativity stable in place, and I’m reaching back into the box for Mary, or Joseph, or the tiny manger crib, I can hear the memory of my children asking, “But what about the animals?”

During the annual retelling of the “no room in the inn”, my kids would often interrupt to ask about the fate of the animals who may have given up their home on that first Christmas night. I usually responded with a variety of fast-talking half-answers:

Oh, we’re not sure it was actually a stable, it could have been another type of small shelter, so maybe there were no animals around. Now listen up to hear what happened next…

Maybe the owner’s stable was brand new and he didn’t have any animals yet. Anyway…

Well, if there were animals, I’m sure they were happy to make room for Jesus. Let’s turn the page...

Our nativity set does include a few animals, but I rarely unpack them. Our table is small and my time is precious, so let’s get to the point, right? And honestly, who wants animals cluttering Christmas, anyway?

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The Stable

Karen Brown12 Comments

What are we doing here?

It’s what shaken, disoriented people ask when they find themselves in unfamiliar territory. 

It’s the right question for today.

It’s one of the questions a teenage girl might have asked when about to give birth for the first time in a stable far from home.

Why here, Lord? Why now? Why me?

A miniature stable from a familiar box is a good distraction from worn-out questions. I’m pulling it out and placing it center stage, where it belongs. Already it reminds me of something bigger, and it grounds me.

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Merry Christmas from Babylon

Karen Brown2 Comments

Sadly, I’m not going to make it. With only a handful of days left in the year, I’m several projects behind on my home-improvement goals, several pounds away from that diet/exercise target, and nowhere near where I dreamed my savings account would be by then end of 2019. Continue reading →

In the Company of Cast and Crew

Karen Brown2 Comments

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Theologian Stanley Hauerwas argues that to truly learn a story, we must act it out.

In my experience, Hauerwas is spot-on, but I’d like to apply his theory a step further. I believe the real, most-important learning comes not only from the acting out, but in the company of the actors.

Every Christmas at pageant time, the kids act and I direct, but it’s the company that changes us. The kids come to that first rehearsal either struggling against or showing off their part. They come clutching their scripts and focused on their own small scene.

No, we can’t have the shepherds use a GPS to find the manger. No, you can’t ask Joseph if he made a reservation. No, the Angel of the Lord can’t wear a gun and holster…

The irony isn’t lost on me that I’m the one who must lead them. Continue reading →

Not Enough World

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A Holy God enters the cursed,
The King abandons His throne.
The Creator becomes the created,
Elohim with flesh and bone. (more…)

Guilty of Gusto

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“I can’t help it. I just love them too much.”

It was the confession of a grandmother. Her daughter lives nearby with her husband and two small children. She was admitting she was an over-grandma. Over-caring, over-providing, over-serving…

Too much love? 

Her tearful angst came at the end of our study of idolatry and traveled around our circle of women.

And when it came around to me, I felt the tension. I’m guilty of gusto, too.  (more…)

Thelma’s Christmas Carol

Karen Brown19 Comments

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Every Christmas, my family loves to retell the story of a gift that I gave my aunt a few years back. “Tell it again,” the kids say, and we start from the beginning and end up laughing so hard we cry. Continue reading →

Give Me A Word… Any Word

Karen Brown8 Comments

It’s called Five Minute Friday. Each week, we write freely on a one-word prompt. Then we link up at the amazing Kate Motaung’s site. It’s a flash mob of writers- having fun and sharing their take on one word. This week’s prompt is: CHOOSE YOUR OWN! 

 

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“Choose your own word”, she tweeted. “Just pick any word and write about it for five minutes.” Continue reading →

The One Who Came To Stay

Karen Brown4 Comments

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I love our house at Christmas time. The lights on our tree give our living room a peaceful glow. My miniature village hides the dust on the piano, and the garland draws the eye away from the stained carpet and scratched wood floor.

But I know in January, the Christmas clutter will have worn on me and I’ll be quick to haul boxes of nativities, candles, and fake village-snow back to the basement. Continue reading →

Adore

Karen Brown8 Comments

I like the music of The Little Drummer Boy, especially the new Pentatonix version, but that little smiling percussionist makes me uneasy.

I can remember watching the movie as a child and worrying because Mary sure seemed to like that drum song… and I don’t play.

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The Woman in Tears

Karen Brown24 Comments
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Well, you wonder why I always choke up and cry
At the scene with Mary holding the baby sent to die,
And why do my tears seem to be more than usual ones?
‘Cause mothers were never meant to lose their daughters or sons.
I cry for the mothers in all the stories I read,
For the confused, fearful, ill-prepared ones like me.
I cry for the ones who’ve been given more than they can hold,
But are bearing it anyway, gripping; pretending to control.

How Can We Know Hope?

Karen Brown11 Comments

He just asked a question.

Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, were old and had struggled with infertility for many years. Despite all of their heartache, they remained faithful their God who seemed non-responsive and so far away.

I imagine Elizabeth’s cyclical shattering of dreams had long since crowded out any ideas that things could be different.

Cynicism is safe. Pessimism is protection. Continue reading →

For Unopened Gifts

Karen Brown21 Comments
Last week, I asked one of my Sunday School students, “For what are you thankful this year?”

“I’m thankful for the presents that I’m gonna get for Christmas,” he said, smiling.

I frowned and began a lecture in my head, “Let’s take one holiday at a time, shall we? How rude to rush ahead to your Christmas list when you haven’t taken time to properly remember what you’ve been given.” Sheesh… kids these days. Continue reading →

Our 5 Best Christmas Gifts That Keep On Giving

Karen Brown5 Comments

Our family loves Christmas. We start talking about what kind of lights we will put on the house and tree right around Halloween. Clark My husband turns up the volume as soon as the radio station switches to Christmas music. Our Christmas movies get pulled from the shelf and dusted off even before we’ve digested our Thanksgiving meal.

And much of our enjoyment is a result of some practices we fell into when the kids were young. I say “fell into” because I don’t want to sound like we are the kind of people who have our act together. We didn’t intentionally plan out these things… they just sort of happened.

But these are the things that have made a huge difference in how we celebrate this monster of a holiday. These are the things that have helped us “tame the beast” a bit, and even enjoy what could be a pressure-cooker for a family of six. Continue reading →

A Proverbs 31 Christmas

Karen Brown15 Comments
An excellent holiday woman who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her family counts on her;
they will lack nothing from their wish lists.
She does them fancy, and not plain…
all the days of the season.
She seeks stylish matching Christmas outfits
and never pays full retail. Continue reading →