Every year, Ed and I look forward to setting up our Crèche, the only thing we own that’s Lenox. Over the years, we’ve collected these pieces and we love to arrange then rearrange them so that the light hits the beautiful depiction of Mary just right, or the magnificent figurine of Joseph as he carefully watches over the Holy Child. We cherish this tradition, which is a sort of prelude to the Christmas season.
Naturally, this brings to mind other Christmases in my past. I remember the excitement of being in my preschool Christmas pageant, which my parents and grandparents proudly attended. (I was the donkey, shaggy and brown, if you must know.) I also recall the times during my Colesville Methodist Youth Fellowship years when we’d all take part in a Living Nativity – standing in the freezing cold, our costumes falling apart, eagerly awaiting our turn to go inside and warm up with mugs of hot chocolate. Then there was our annual family dinners, with my extended family joining around my beloved grandmother’s piano singing Christmas carols, as well as portions of Handel’s Messiah.
We all have Christmas memories we hold dear – a slice of years gone by. If we’re really lucky, these lovely memories form the core of who we are. Yet, these memories can become bittersweet, reminding us of what is no longer there or that which we long for. Several Sligo members have lost loved ones and for them, this will be a difficult time. It’s like learning to skate with your bedroom slippers on. Can you do it? Maybe. Nevertheless, there’s always something missing.
And so, we find ourselves at the Manger and the question is posed, why do we come? Some of us come with the expectant eyes of faith. For these individuals, the journey to the Manger is the first in a series of steps to Christian maturity. We’re lucky to have these members among us, for they are a living “cloud of witnesses.” For others, the journey to the manger is fraught with questions, asking, ‘God with us – how can this be?’ Finally, some of us don’t really journey to the Manger so much as we simply glance in that direction long enough to check off the box in our endless “To-Do” list. We linger there just long enough to hear a favorite carol or two, maybe see some lovely lights. Then we’re off to tackle the next thing on the list, ever mindful of the time.
My hunch is that what matters is not necessarily how we come but that we come to the manger. For whether we kneel at the Manger for hours at a time or simply glimpse it from afar, nothing will be the same. Because in beholding the Child, we are changed – forever!
Merry Christmas, Sligo Church and Sligo Friends!!!!