From The Squalor Of A Borrowed Stable

I'm a country gal, so I'm one of these people who simply loves the smell of a farmyard. 

 

However, whilst I love the smell whilst I'm out walking, it's not a smell I would like in my own home.  Far less, when I was giving birth.

 

We tend to have a preconceived, polished idea about the nativity scene: we send each other Christmas cards with an air-brushed Madonna and baby.  The shepherds and wise men are strategically placed to frame the newborn baby and the animals look as though they have just been washed and cleaned for the occasion.

 

But the reality is that Jesus was born in amongst the animals.  It would have been messy and smelly and dirty.  It wasn't a clinical, sterilised maternity ward with midwives on hand to ease this new mother's birth.

 

"[Mary] gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them."

 

[Luke 2:7 NLT]

 

When you think that God could have chosen to enter the world in any way possible, we must ask why He chose to be born in such dire conditions.  The circumstances of His birth are hardly the stuff of fairytale.  Nor do they suggest His true identity or royalty.

 

But I love that Jesus was born into a messy, dirty situation.

 

It reminds me that He lovingly steps into the mess of my life, too.  I don't have to 'clean up' or make myself tidy or 'presentable'.  I don't have to tidy the mess of my life before I can come before Him.

 

I don't have to pretend to be perfect, or go through some sort of ritual to make myself good enough to come into His presence. 

 

And what's more, I know that He understands what it means to live in messy conditions - both literally and metaphorically.  He can understand my struggles.

"This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.  So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.  There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."

 

[Hebrews 4:15 NLT]

 

 

That's the kind of King I want.

 

 

 

Mulled Wine

Ah, 'tis the season for mulling things.  Mulled wine - both red and white* - mulled cider, mulled juices ...

 

I love mulled wine.  I love the beautiful, rich smell as all of the spices and flavours mingle and merge together.  And, of course, I love drinking it and feeling the warmth spread through me.

 

I like that it's a drink for sipping slowly and enjoying all of the different flavours.

 

I think that the Christmas story is a bit like mulled wine.  We so often gulp it down in one or two big mouthfuls: Mary and Joseph.  Engaged.  Pregnant by the power of God's Spirit.  No room at the inn.  Stable.  Baby born.  Shepherds.  Wise men.  Gifts.  Throw in a few classic farmyard animals and a few angels and you have got yourself a nativity play.

 

It's a story which we have all heard hundreds of times before.  It's a story which is woven into the fabric of our culture.  But it's also a story which we often don't pay much attention to, because we think we know it already .  And we think that we know all of the details already too.

 

But, like mulled wine, there are subtle flavours to be discovered, if we sip the story slowly and spend time mulling it over.

 

Even before Jesus' birth, God was at work in the Christmas story.  Rereading the book of Luke the other day, I came across this passage where Zachariah (Mary's cousin's husband and the father of John the Baptist), praises God:

 

      "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
      he came and set his people free.
      He set the power of salvation in the centre of our lives [...]

      a clean rescue from the enemy camp,
      So we can worship him without a care in the world,
      made holy before him as long as we live."

 

       [Luke 1:67, 70 MSG]

 

We are set free and rescued, through Jesus.  We need not have a care in the world, if we put our trust in Him.  We are holy and pure and beautiful in His eyes the moment we turn to Him and start to trust Him. 

 

This is just a tiny part of what Zachariah says, but there is so much to take in.  So much to sip and savour. 

 

Rather than 'downing' the Christmas story in one big gulp this year, let's take the time to sip it slowly and savour every flavour.

 

 

  

 

* I thoroughly enjoyed some mulled white wine last year as a seasonal twist on a classic and would highly recommend it.