A few years ago, I was at work near the end of the year. The Executive
Director of the non-profit I work for was excited about the impending
new year (she’s a great cheerleader and not lacking for excitement),
but with a difficult year behind and another long year in front of me,
I didn’t have the heart to share her excitement.
A
series of religious activities reveal a devout young couple doing precisely
what their law prescribed: circumcision, naming, purification, presentation,
offering.Enjoying the beauty of
their tradition, they are interrupted by a strange old man wanting to hold
their baby.Any mother would tighten
her grip.
The
Shepherds were where you expect to find them: in the fields watching sheep
sleep.Without warning or
invitation, an angel appears – enough to unnerve the cockiest of shepherds -
followed by a crowd of heavenly beings.They were chosen to receive the clearest message of cosmic importance to
date: Today, Bethlehem, Child born, Savior. No interpretation necessary.
Thin Places come through the encouragement of a soul friend.
Mary and Elizabeth make an odd pair. Connected only by blood and now impending motherhood, they were otherwise worlds apart. Elizabeth was a priest’s wife, well-known
for her piety. Yet, she had long bore the cultural “curse” of
childlessness. Mary was on the opposite end of life’s journey—
looking ahead and not behind. She was a small town girl, betrothed to
a man well chosen by her parents and awaiting the sacred space of
marriage and children. Then an angel interrupts her plans.
