Two thousand years ago, the baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem. There was no military fanfare; there was no national celebration.

The birthplace was a simple stable; the parents, simple people. Scriptures tell today of angels proclaiming the baby’s birth, but only to ordinary shepherds in the fields nearby.

“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to all,” they sang. God had sent his Son, foretold centuries before, to shine his light into a dark world. The prophet Isaiah had said, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone.”

The writer and theologian C.S. Lewis puts the baby’s birth and the subsequent ministry of Jesus in perspective. In “Mere Christianity,” Lewis says that Jesus “was and is God” and that at the birth of Jesus, “God … landed on this enemy-occupied world in human form.”
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to all.”

Author and theologian N.T. Wright continues the Lewis theme in his recent book “Simply Christian,” saying, “The whole point of Jesus’ work was to bring heaven to earth and join them together forever, to bring God’s future into the present and make it stick there. But when heaven comes to earth and finds earth unready, when God’s future arrives in the present while people are still asleep, there will be explosions. And there were.”

Still, the birth of the baby and all the love and hope it represents is what the celebration of Christmas represents, said Faye Hudnall, associate pastor at Jefferson Street United Methodist Church, in a meditation presented during the week before Christmas.

“Regardless of our circumstances, in spite of the things that have happened to us in our lives, love comes down at Christmas,” she said. “It always comes. Just look around. We see it in the bell ringers for the Salvation Army. We see it in the faces of the children in the Christmas pageants. We hear it in the choirs’ singing. We feel it when we buy gifts for those who otherwise wouldn’t have Christmas.”

Through 10-year-old eyes

Hudnall recalled a special Christmas in her life, when she was a child of 10 and knew that her farming family faced a more austere holiday than usual, as it had not been a good year for farmers.

She dreamed of a beautiful bicycle that year, a blue one with a bell like her best friend’s bike. But she happened upon two rusty bikes hidden in the barn that she feared would be under the tree for her sister and her on Christmas morning.

“My selfishness consumed me,” she said. “But somehow I had the decency to keep it to myself.” Still, she remained grumpy as Christmas approached.

On Christmas morning, she found under the tree the same two bikes she had seen earlier, but they no longer were rusty; they had been painted – one a shiny red and the other blue. And both had bells.

“Then as I thought of all the love it had taken to transform those old rusty bikes into Santa’s best, I realized I had been changed, too,” she said. And since that Christmas, she has seen that “wrapped all up in those swaddling clothes was the human embodiment of love.”

And now she knows clearly, she said, “It is a love that is always with us. All we have to do is say yes to the gift. Love came down at Christmas to call us back to God so that we might know the inner peace of a life of faith-filled and faithful living.”

A community’s gifts

The Rev. David O’Connor, pastor of St. Mary Basilica and Assumption Catholic Church, recalls a Christmas only one year ago that embodies for him the spirit of the Christ child’s birth. It was Christmas 2005, when the community continued to be home to many evacuees from the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which occurred on Aug. 29.

“The Natchez community had graciously welcomed and offered hospitality to many thousands of evacuees in the fall,” O’Connor said.

“Voluntary agencies, church groups, public bodies and individuals had set new and higher standards of service than previously called for.”

O’Connor praised the spirit of hospitality and generosity leading up to the Christmas season. “Reaching out to help a fellow human being became the norm,” he said. “I have no idea of the number of food baskets that were prepared and delivered to needy people. Every helping group stretched themselves to ensure that no evacuee had to go without and that children got special attention.”

He recalled many gatherings where evacuees were the center of attention and provided with “material things that bring contentment during the Christmas season. Both congregations at which I minister were active participants in this effort.”

What are Christians to do about Christmas then? Jesus gave a new commandment during his life on earth, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And Christmas is all about that.

Reminder of the miracle

The Rev. Dr. John Larson, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, tells a poignant story, a centerpiece of his Christmas Eve sermon, of a woman who had suffered recent great losses but who was called to work at a shelter for homeless people on a Christmas Eve when she was despondent about the death of her husband and the absence of any family with her for Christmas.

“She was miserable and did not feel that the God who makes all things new or who was the Word made flesh, was dwelling with her that day or even cared what happened to her,” Larson said.

On that Christmas Eve, however, the grieving woman welcomed a man and pregnant woman into the homeless shelter. It happened that she helped to deliver the homeless woman’s baby boy just after midnight.

“Around dawn, she thought she heard the sound of a door closing and a car engine starting,” Larson said. She did not get out of bed to check. But later, she headed into the room where she had helped to deliver the baby to check on the family. They were gone.

“In fact, there was no evidence of them being there. The cot was out in the main room, the pantry was clean,” he said. “She began to wonder if it had been a dream. Later, after cleaning up the shelter and bidding the departing shelter guests ‘Merry Christmas,’ she headed for her car. Stuck on her windshield was a note. It said simply, ‘We are fine. Thanks for everything. Joe, Maria and Joshua.’”

And so, Larson said, the woman who had been despondent about the holy day was instead “singing to herself every joyous carol she could remember. For, truly, thanks to God, she had not been alone on Christmas. She knew she had been visited by the Christ, the Word made flesh, Who dwelt among us.”

Echoes of social justice

In “Simply Christian,” N.T. Wright says that in understanding what Jesus is about, “we begin to recognize the voice whose echoes we have heard in the longing for justice, the hunger for spirituality and relationship and the delight in beauty.”

O’Connor spoke of his own attitudes changing as he matured as a pastor. “Many times in the weeks before Christmas, needy families and individuals have asked for assistance saying ‘so that their children would have a Christmas,’” he said. “In my early days in ministry I considered this statement as reflecting only a materialistic view of Christmas.”

Now, “older and wiser, I truly appreciate the spirit of generosity and sharing that comes forth from the community in response to the material needs of children and families.”

Larson said it is like the message of the “Magnificat,” sung by Mary before the birth of Jesus. “In her song, the rich, the proud and the powerful will be dethroned; and the humble and hungry cared for.”

O’Connor said the central tenet of Christmas is that “God became one of us in Bethlehem, and his life teaches us how to become good human beings; and remembering the author and wellspring of our lives, we honor the creator.”

The Rev. Dr. Edgar Wright, pastor at Morgantown Baptist Church, said he remembers well the childhood view of Christmas. “Of course that excitement was mainly over receiving gifts,” he said.

“One of my fondest memories of Christmas was on Christmas Eve 1961. That night I gave my sweetheart an engagement ring. She accepted it and we married the next year and have been married for 44 years.”

Even today, it is easy to put more emphasis on decorations, family gatherings, good food and exchanging gifts, “rather than the indescribable gift of God’s Son, Jesus Christ,” he said.

He recalled a story of a missionary family who sold most of their possessions, including Christmas decorations, before moving to the mission post in the Caribbean.

“The missionary wife said it was hard to get in the spirit of Christmas that first year because they had no Christmas decorations, the weather wasn’t cold and there were no close friends with whom to celebrate.”

God intervened, however. “God helped her to see that these things are just stuff,” Wright said. “He helped her to see that Christmas is Jesus, and if you have Jesus you can celebrate Christmas regardless of the circumstances.”