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

December 27, 2020December 24, 2021Karen Brown1 Comment

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

December 24, 2020December 24, 2021Karen Brown4 Comments

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

December 20, 2020December 24, 2021Karen 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

December 16, 2020December 24, 2021Karen Brown1 Comment

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

December 13, 2020December 14, 2024Karen Brown1 Comment

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

December 9, 2020December 24, 2021Karen Brown4 Comments

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

December 5, 2020December 24, 2021Karen Brown3 Comments

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

December 2, 2020December 24, 2021Karen Brown4 Comments

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

November 29, 2020November 30, 2025Karen 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

December 23, 2019Karen 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

December 27, 2017December 27, 2017Karen 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 →

Ordinary Time

January 26, 2017January 27, 2017Karen Brown6 Comments

Week four of a New Year’s resolution is not for sissies. Week four is when you notice your biggest supporters, Motivation, Novelty, and Determination, have all packed up camp and headed to wherever they hide. I’m guessing they ran way ahead of me to the final days of December. Or rushed on to Lent. Or are waiting for me in the countdown to swim season. Bye, Felicia.
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Not Enough World

Link December 16, 2016December 18, 2016Karen Brown2 Comments

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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…)

GNO: Paula Robinson’s Favorite Things

October 5, 2016October 5, 2016Karen BrownLeave a comment

I am a working mom of 3 kids, and have been married to Shawn for 17 years. I am a native St. Louisan but my heart lives in Montreal – or Arizona – or Bora Bora. Let’s just say I love to travel.

First, I’d like to say that it’s an honor to read everyone’s favorite things. You can tell a lot about a person that you may have never know before with these posts. Thank you, Karen, for creating an avenue for so many phenomenal women to share their insight, encourage one another, make us think, make us laugh – have a girls’ night out! Continue reading →

Give Me A Word… Any Word

December 18, 2015December 18, 2015Karen 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

December 13, 2015November 17, 2016Karen 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 →