M is for MANGER

It must be that time of the year again. Walking through the Resource Room at school the other day, I glanced, out of the corner of my eye, a few gold coloured crowns made out of stiff card and a couple of very impressive white crooks, lying undisturbed across a desk. Some boxes were already wrapped in shiny paper of assorted colours and one or two costumes befitting of wise men were hanging nearby. Today, I noticed some clothes that angels, of very small stature, might have worn, lying in the staff room. They weren't there yesterday so a miracle must have happened overnight. But the, sweet noises emanating from the main hall gave the game away - it's Christmas carol service time again. Mary, Joseph, shepherds with maybe a few sheep, wise men and their gifts, all will be parading up the aisle of the church in just over a week to reenact the whole story at the manger. Isn't it funny that, after all these years, we still assume that the wise men came to see the baby around the same time as the shepherds and also that there were three of them. I can't seem to find confirmation of either in the Bible! Anyway back to the shepherds. I wonder how many came, what ages they were, how far they had travelled, who they left behind, what time of the night they arrived, how many sheep they owned, were they all from the same family? I want to know, but I don't. What I do know is that while they were out in some fields, probably up a hill, not far from town, they saw an amazing sight of angels singing and clearly an angel spoke to them in a voice they all could hear. It probably had been another pretty uneventful night up until that moment, when their biggest fear had been a wild animal trying to sneak off with one of the flock for supper so it's hardly surprising that the angel's first words were to tell them not to be afraid. Afraid? Scared out of their wits, more likely. Even in this modern age with all our technology, sci fi and crazy notions about aliens, I think we would have been pretty shocked and fearful to see a crowd of angels in the sky, singing and praising God. But what do you expect? The God of the universe, the King of Kings, the great I AM, is just about to be born down the road, so a fanfare would be the very least we would expect to greet His arrival. Still, that night changed their lives for ever. Just imagine the stories they would tell their children and grandchildren. I wonder what they said to His mum and dad and what they did after the visit. I wonder if any of them would connect the death of a young man just over thirty years later with the baby in the manger and I wonder did any of them become followers. But I suppose that is the whole point of the Christmas story - a story of wonder.

And as the baby lay there in the manger, could His mother and father ever have imagined how He would grow up, even though Mary had been told by an angel about the precious gift she would carry. God in human form, so helpless that He needed to be cared by those that He had designed in His own image. How humble is that? And isn't it so intriguing how the Bible tells us on several occasions that Mary 'treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.' What was going through her mind on that birth day? How far ahead was she thinking? Or was she just caught up in the world of being a new mother? She was truly blessed to be chosen as the mother of our Saviour but in truth she was just another human being like each of us, born in sin and in need of the grace of the child in the manger.

The manger would soon be empty again, back to the job for which it had been intended. The animals would return to their lying places and feeding troughs and probably never again would a human birth take place in that stable. Bethlehem would return to a sense of normality as families filtered home after the census, most probably unaware of the seismic event that had taken place away from public glare and in the presence of a few shepherds. Some time later the wise men would come to bring gifts for the baby and Herod would attempt to plot the downfall of his Creator. The family would move to Egypt and later return to settle in Nazareth where the child would grow through adolescence into a man and Mary would continue to ponder.

And what of the shepherds? I'm sure they never forgot the night they met Jesus for their lives would never be the same again. And that's still true today, for an encounter with the Saviour of the world is life changing. I often hear people say 'Put Christ back in Christmas' and while it is a lovely and correct sentiment, unfortunately too many leave Him in the manger. As the old saying goes, 'Wise men sought Jesus and they still do'.