by Christine Sine
Just before Christmas I set up our Nativity set and added Jesus in the manger to my Advent garden. I also took out the Advent candles and replaced them with white ones, instantly converting it into a Christmas garden. Where’s the midwife I pondered as I got ready to celebrate the twelve days of Christmas? Mary’s midwife is not a piece of the nativity sets we use to decorate our homes during the Christmas season, though evidently she did often appear in Ancient Orthodox and Byzantine icons of the event.
While it’s true that Luke doesn’t mention the presence of a midwife in his account of the nativity, it’s not hard to imagine that Mary was attended by one, just as Jewish mothers had been for thousands of year.
Russian icon titled Rozhestvo Gospoda Nashego Isusa Khrista — “the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ
It’s probable that Mary and Joseph had already been in Bethlehem for several days when Jesus was born. Luke says plainly, “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem … And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered” (Luke 2: 4-6). There is no sense of urgency in the account, no indication that she was already in labour when they arrived. It is probable that Mary and Joseph had ample time to prepare for her delivery and to seek out a local midwife. It is even likely that some of Joseph’s female relatives were there. After all this was his home town and whether Jesus was born in a cave where animals were kept, or in a family home, as I suspect, in a culture as hospitable as this they would not have been left to birth the baby on their own.
Like so many other figures in the gospel narrative, this midwife is never named, though Orthodox tradition calls her Salome. Sometimes she is depicted in the corner or background of the manger scene. Sometimes she’s preparing something for Mary, sometimes observing quietly, and sometimes giving Jesus his first bath! Irish tradition says that it was Brigid of Kildare who somehow travelled through time and space to be with Mary and deliver this precious child. This unknown woman, was vital to the survival of Jesus.
The Nativity. The Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus in a manger, with Joseph. From the Nagara Māryām, the history and miracles of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 18th century
As I sit here today, thinking of this woman, I am reminded of my early days as a physician in New Zealand when I too helped to bring babies into the world. It was the most precious experience imaginable, one that I never tired of. So I close my eyes and imagine myself transported back 2,000 years to give birth to that special child. After all if Brigid can travel through time I should be able to as well. I imagine myself comforting Mary as she cried out in the pangs of childbirth. I imagine listening for Jesus’s first breath, and hear him give his first cry. I bath him, gently wiping off the blood and fluids of his passage through the birth canal. Then I lay him on his mother’s breast, enthralled by her radiant smile and I beckon Joseph to her side.
It is hard to believe, as we think of this tiny child, so rudely and violently expelled into the world, and now lying quietly in all his vulnerability and dependency, that he is indeed the promised saviour, the son of God. Like me, did the midwife look at his tiny body in awe and wonder filled with the joy and delight of helping to bring to birth a child in whom the divine spark was obviously present. Did she go away changed just as the shepherds and the wise men were changed by their encounter? Did she cherish the face of this child in her mind aware that he was special and would transform the world?
I love that we have 12 days in the Christmas season to contemplate the many remarkable aspects of the birth of Christ. I pray that you too will take time today to think about not just Jesus but also the woman who helped bring him into the world. I suspect she holds a very special place in the heart of God.
by June Friesen
LUKE 2: 1-20
1-5 About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant. 6-7 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel. 8-12 There were shepherds camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.” 13-14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises: Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.
15-18 As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the shepherds talked it over. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the shepherds were impressed. 19-20 Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The shepherds returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they’d been told!
IT WAS TIME
It was time for a census to be taken in a great part of the world including Israel,
There was to be a counting of each person –
Not only a counting of each person
But it had to be according to their ancestral family.
It was then that Joseph needed to go to Bethlehem –
What was he to do – he was soon to be a father –
Not just a father but the father of the ‘long awaited Messiah’ –
Long awaited in the community of Israel, God’s chosen people.
What was he going to do?
How could he leave and not take his wife?
How was Mary going to be able to make this trek?
Oh my – oh my – oh my….
It was time for a baby to be born momentarily –
Mary had indicated that the time for the baby to come was going to be soon –
What if she went into labor on the way?
What if they had to stop on the way and had no place for shelter?
However – they did manage to make it to Bethlehem –
But O the crowds of people milling the streets –
They seemed oblivious to Joseph as he tried to navigate through
Hoping to find shelter and a place for his laboring wife to rest.
Yet everywhere he stopped to check
The answer was the same – ‘Full up, no room, no space at all,’
Until one man was willing to offer his barn where the animals were resting –
And Joseph responded, “Yes, we will take it.”
Joseph got Mary settled in just in time –
And then the little one soon made His appearance –
Gently Mary (and maybe Joseph helped) wrapped the baby
In the strips of cloth she had brought and laid him on a bed of hay.
And then an announcement was made to shepherds –
Out in the fields outside of Bethlehem –
That a special baby had just been born within the village.
And it was to the most unsuspecting people the announcement was first made,
To some shepherds who were quietly getting ready to rest for the night –
In the hills outside of the city – and they had no doubt a fire lit
For warmth as well as protection from predators of their sheep
When all of a sudden! It happened in the darkness of the night!
A Light – not just a star – but a brilliant light –
And then there appeared what? – An angel –
Who then spoke with a message just for them that night.
“I am coming to tell you now,
That in Bethlehem there has been born
A Baby who is ‘The Messiah’ – The Savior of the World –
You will find Him in a cattle barn with His parents.’
And then – WHAT – O MY!
The sky filled with many, many angels – singing in a chorus:
Glory to God in the highest –
And here on earth –
Peace be to all of humanity.
Now it was time for the baby’s first visitors – shepherds at that –
Why wouldn’t it be that the family in Nazareth had been told to visit?
Why is it the Jewish leaders were not told to visit?
Why is it that it was shepherds – I wonder, do you?
The angel had told them to go and they would find a baby –
Not just a baby but a Messiah –
A Savior for the whole world –
What could this be? How could this be? Hmmmmm….
And so it was that they found this baby –
Yes, and they found Him with his mother Mary and father Joseph –
And they then believed what the angels had said.
It was then many heard about the shepherds’ discovery…..
Oh my, oh my….these shepherds had now found their tongues of praise,
And they no doubt were dancing and prancing – singing and shouting –
“Praise God – The Messiah is finally here. Praise be to God the Father.”
It was a time that Mary thought mindfully and deeply –
As she quieted or at least attempted to quiet her heart –
And thought – “Why/how did the shepherds outside the city know?
Why – – will others now come too, or will they just think the shepherds were dreaming?”
It was then a new beginning for God to be revealed to humanity –
And it certainly seems as if He chose a very unlikely way
With unlikely circumstances and definitely many unlikely characters –
So how would humanity respond – would they respond with an eager faith like the shepherds?
Now it is time for humanity (you and I) today to consider –
Is this really the Messiah promised to the nation of Israel?
Why was He not born to a priestly family so He could be raised in the Temple and in the proper religious instruction?
What a way for God to try to make an impression upon humanity – poor, humble and lonely birth that it was for His Son.
Now then each person is offered opportunity to discover this gift –
This one time gift that God gave to and through humanity
To make it possible for Him to once again have a relationship
Like He had planned when He created Adam and Eve in the garden.
Now it is time for humanity to consider once again –
This birth that night in the strangest of conditions
Was not just a simple event that happened –
No, it was an event that would and should change the course of our world forever.
Yes, consider if you will how you as a follower of God
Have come to believe this story for your own spirit and well-being,
Does it make a difference, really make a difference this Christmas?
Or is this Christmas just another family celebration and party?
Will you receive the angel(s) into your presence –
Will you entertain their message and song –
Will you respond to their invitation to come or
Will you think you had a dream that surely could not be real?
Will you consider that God does things His way?
Will you give God an opportunity to reveal Himself to you today?
Will you believe that God’s greatest desire today (and every day)
Is to come and live in your home, your being – and continue to bless you with His presence until life on this earth is finished and done.
Come Lord Jesus, come and be at home with me today –
Come and fill me with Your presence of love, peace and joy –
O and come and fill me with forgiveness of myself and others too –
Yes, come Lord Jesus – I receive a renewed gift of Your Presence today.
In Jesus Name, amen and amen.
All photos and writing by June Friesen. Scripture is from The Message Translation.
by Joy Lenton
It’s dawn on Christmas Day. A sense of anticipation builds. Children are already fumbling for their lumpy, weighty stockings and emitting excited squeals before hurrying to show their sleep-deprived parents what Santa has brought them.
Come with me to a quiet, sleepy city street. Here we find a woman who rarely surfaces early or feels remotely half-awake until coffee time or later, slowly and gently being nudged out of slumber.
She doesn’t have a child disturbing her rest, instead there’s a thrill of hope racing through her veins. A feeling of awe stirs her to rouse and remember Christmas Day has dawned. A sudden splurge of energy propels her toward the bedroom window.
Here she spots the muted glow of street lights still visible behind the curtains. Yet something invites her to draw them back a notch and look beyond the environs of her home, the street corner, houses and trees. This is what she sees…
Dawn
She wakes with the dawn,
which is unusual
because her weary body rarely
comes alive before coffee time,
at least, but now she is drawn
to part the curtains on the day,
where she witnesses
a golden-ridged, rippled cloud
of applause echoing through the sky
as if to celebrate
this Christmas Day, this wondrous
event when Christ arrives.
It seems as if the heavens
are joining earth
in exultation, rejoicing
in their King
being revealed to mortal eyes.
And in this glorious
display it feels like angels
are singing again,
unheard by human ears, and yet
they leave vestiges
of royal love and joy threading
like wafts of shining cotton wool
lining the acreage of sky.
Her heart lifts, too,
as she admires
the spectacle of glory clouds
and ponders on
how marvellous the first Christmas
must have been
to its small audience,
unseen hosts
and awed participants,
while heaven touched earth
irrefutably, through a baby’s
breath, a tiny heartbeat
that still resounds—now softly
bound within her own.
© joylenton
Photo by Joy Lenton
“The Word became
a human being
and lived here with us.
We saw his true glory,
the glory of the only Son
of the Father.
From him the complete gifts
of undeserved grace and truth
have come down to us.”
— John 1:14 CEV
A Christmas Day prayer
Dear Lord Jesus,
Today we celebrate Your birth, how You came and dwelt among us here on earth. Although we might be overfamiliar with the biblical narrative, help us retain a sense of awe at the wonder of it all as we remember how You inhabited our humanity.
May our hearts reignite with the anticipation, hope, expectation, awe and joy of a child on Christmas morning, one who can’t wait to unwrap the wonderful gifts You bring us.
Help us to notice the majestic and the marvellous wrapped up in the mundane. As we go about our humdrum, ordinary days, may they be filled with a deep-seated awareness of Your gifts of joy and peace and saturated with Your grace.
May we learn to rejoice, even in the challenging and hard, because You came down to earth and You love us so much. You are with us through the good times and the bad. You live in our hearts by faith, a new life birthing made possible because of your own.
Amen
Over the last several years we have posted numerous Christmas prayers. In fact, I realized today that with the addition of T.S. Eliot’s great reading of the Journey of the Magi there are indeed 12 poems to share. Enjoy
- A Christmas Creed
- Irish Christmas blessing
- At the End of the Year – A Poem by John O’Donohue
- Aaron Neville – A Christmas Prayer
- Christmas Prayer by Mother Theresa
- Christmas Prayer by Bebe Winan
- Christmas Prayer by Henri Nouwen
- The Mood of Christmas by Howard Thurman
- First Coming by Madeliene L’Angle
- Amazing Peace by Maya Angelou
- A Christmas prayer by Christine Sine
This year many of us in America are receiving the Gift of Interruption for Christmas due to the wild winter weather we are having. Many have had to rearrange travel plans or reschedule gatherings due to the blizzard conditions and subzero temperatures. This is so frustrating! We really don’t like interruptions and after two years of having to regroup and change things due to the pandemic, we really don’t have the bandwidth or margin needed to regroup yet again.
But what if we could be willing to receive the interruptions this Christmas, as Gifts, rather than curses?
How can we be willing to let God surprise us this Christmas? Even in the interruptions or change in plans?
For many years, I worked on a church staff at Christmastime. This meant that often the tree was decorated later than planned, or cookies didn’t get baked til after the 25th. The church happened to be a very traditional Episcopal church where we didn’t really sing Christmas carols or decorate the church until Christmas Eve! This is because Advent is the season of the Church year that lasts until Christmas Eve. And the SEASON of CHRISTMAS begins on CHRISTMAS DAY, December 25! And since I was on staff and had to work Christmas Eve, our celebration really didn’t happen until Christmas Day and afterwards. We learned to receive the gift of the Season of Christmas.
And it really is a SEASON of the Church year, not just ONE DAY! You’ve probably sung the 12 Days of Christmas Song or at least heard it somewhere, well the 12 DAYS of Christmas are AFTER the 25th of December. The Christmas Season runs until January 6th which is Feast of Epiphany.
SO YOU ARE NOT LATE! YOU ARE NOT BEHIND! It is totally OK not to have everything ready or feel like you need more time! By embracing the SEASON of Christmas, you have 12 whole days to celebrate! Now you may not have all that time off from work, but give yourself the gift of doing Christmas over time rather than all at once this year. Write cards next week, deliver gifts as New Year’s presents or even for Epiphany or Three Kings Day!
Give yourself permission to celebrate the SEASON of Christmas!
What things can happen during the days after the 25th? Are you willing to let them?
And what about the Christmas spirit? maybe it’s been hard to embrace or engage in the holidays this year. That’s totally ok. Every year is different. We have seasons of our lives just as the calendar has seasons. Embrace the season you are in right now. It won’t be like this forever. We are all in different places so that will change how we celebrate and embrace the holiday. You are allowed to be sad at Christmas. It’s totally fine to choose to be alone rather than in a group if that is what feels best to you. Listen to yourself and what your heart needs this Christmas.
Find the things that bring you joy and do those things. Eliminate the things that bring you sadness or cause you anxiety or stress. ASK FOR HELP! Don’t try to do it all yourself this week!
I am going to watch “Charlie Brown’s Christmas” which always reminds me of the REAL reason for the season. And watch the old cartoon version of “The Grinch“because it makes me smile and our family have all the lines memorized. This morning I found the Amy Grant Christmas play list on I Tunes and listened to all her Christmas albums in a row!
MAKE A LIST of the things that bring you JOY and pick one to do each day.
TAKE TIME OUT and SLOW DOWN. EMBRACE the interruptions. OPEN THE GIFT of REST! BREATHE deeply.
TAKE TIME TO JUST BE WITH JESUS… HE came to be with YOU!
To help you continue the Celebration, Join us on January 7th!
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
As you know from my posts we are big fans of Gen X& Z because a higher percentage of these two generations are much more concerned about the issues of environmental, racial and economic justice than those of us in older generations. Pew Research reports that these two generations are much more active in addressing environmental and social issues than older generations.
Over the past 30 years I have found that most church leaders love and delight in each new generation of young people. However, while they they delight in them, they often don’t realize that our newest Generations, Gen Y & Z, are much more active in working for environmental, racial and social justice than older generations. Also, they are often not aware of how much more expensive it is for Gen Y & Z to launch their lives than it was for older generations.
For example, when I attended Cascade College way back in the 50s I made enough at a modest Summer Recreation job to pay all my tuition, fees and books for a year. Students these days find that their summer jobs may help pay for some of their books but do little to reduce the costs of tuition and campus housing.
Working as professor for Fuller Theological Seminary for almost 30 years at their Seattle extension I became aware that rising college costs were dramatically increasing their school debt. In addition to this, the rising cost of housing is dramatically raising the cost for students to launch their lives after they graduate. Housing is particularly expensive in cities like Seattle.
When I went house hunting in Seattle over 30 years ago, housing was much less expensive. I was surprised to find an ancient house in Seattle that was constructed back in 1910. Essentially it is three separate 2 bedroom houses stacked on top of each other with a very large back yard.
Christine and I decided 30 years ago to transform these three ancient 2 bedroom apartments into a Christian co-living Community called Mustard Seed House. Even though rent has become quite high in Seattle we have been able to keep our rent below the going rate here.
Christine and I have so enjoyed getting to know a number of younger couples and singles who welcomed the opportunity to be a part of a Christian co-living community. What we offer to all of our co-living friends is the opportunity to share a meal every week where we also take time to reflect on our faith journey. We also share an opportunity once a month to work in our community garden together.
Last year we all harvested and shared 100 pounds of tomatoes and 400 pounds of apples. Before Covid we used to periodically host large groups of friends at events in our backyard. However, to be responsible hosts we have cut back to much smaller groups.
Christine and I decided to let all her readers know that our largest apartment on our top floor is currently available to a couple, small family or 2 to 4 singles who would like to experience a co-living experience in the Mustard Seed House in Seattle.
The top floor apartment is the largest of the three residences. It includes 2 large bedrooms, a small office, a kitchen with a living area and a large living room. It also has remarkable views of downtown Seattle and the Olympic Mountains and is in very good condition. Contact Christine Sine to take a tour. Many members of Gen Y & Z find co-living in places like Seattle is not only less expensive, young people tell us it is also more engaging.
Finally do let us know if you would like to view the apartment in person or have a Zoom visit.
Wishing you and you and yours a blessed Advent and a Joyous Christmas
Or attend our next retreat – Following The Star Into the New Year
In January we celebrate Epiphany and the coming of the Magi to visit Jesus. Like them, many of us feel we are on a long journey following a star that is sometimes bright and shining, sometimes completely hidden yet still guiding us towards Christ. 2022 taught us important lessons that will shape the coming year. We sense God wants to do something new in our lives and we want to follow in the right direction.
Join Lilly Lewin and Christine Sine online Saturday, January 7th 2023 from 9:30 am PT to 12:30pm PT as they help us reflect on the past year and take time to hope, dream and pray for the year ahead. We will engage in some fun practices like chalking the door and interact with each other in ways that strengthen our faith and draw us closer to God.
Click here to register! We are once again offering several price points to aid those who are students or in economic hardship.
As I have said before, Joseph is one of my favourite unsung heroes of the Christmas story. He never says a word. He questions, wants to follow the law 100% – what with Mary being pregnant and all that. As a lawful man he should have had her stoned to death. Funny things laws at times, but that is probably for another post entirely around women’s rights, etc.
The other day I was reading through the Genealogies in Matthew 1:1-17, encouraged by the Red Letter Christians advent calendar. Now this is Joseph’s genealogy because the prophets said that the Messiah would come through the line of David and that was Joseph’s line, hence why Joseph took the pregnant Mary with him to register for the census in Bethlehem, the town of David. So again I am struck by how important it is to God that Joseph is included in the story of Jesus. In the first two chapters of Matthew Joseph is actually the lead protagonist of the tale. It is his actions that keep the story moving and keep Jesus from being killed – first by potential stoning of Mary and then by Herod’s massacre of the baby boys.
The prompt was “which name stands out?” Now I was surprised that it was Jehoiachin [read more about him and his demise in 2 Kings 24:14-15 and 2 Chronicles 36:10]. He is the last king of Judah who gets taken away to captivity in Babylon. Though, he does get treated well by the son of his capture. So Joseph is from a line of kings and there is that royal connection. It makes me wonder how he felt about that. Proud? Disillusioned? Did he ignore it?
In the UK we have a tradition of royal households being dispossessed by other royal household, and countries like France and Russia have lost their royal households due to revolutions. Once in the UK there was a DNA investigation that found someone who allegedly had more of a claim to the British throne through an older royal household than the present royal family, who were actually invited in by the British government because they didn’t want a Catholic on the throne back in the 18th century.
So here is Joseph, of a royal household that was dispossessed by an oppressive regime, who still knows his lineage .
Back in the First book of Samuel God uses Samuel to tell the people that having a king isn’t a good idea and that they won’t be happy with one. If they just followed God they would have freedom but a king would expect things of them: tithes, to be his army and fight for him, to work in his household, etc.
Now here’s the twist for me – God says that having a king isn’t a good idea, then brings in the saviour of not just the Jews but of the whole world through a lineage that God said was not a good plan. Now that is an interesting plot twist. I find this whole thing fascinating and I think it gives great hope to all of us.
We too often do what we really shouldn’t do. It is not like it is a bad thing but it isn’t God’s best for our lives. Often we can feel or are made to feel that we’ve missed it and so we don’t see the restoration, the redemption, the way we could be part of something so much more than just us and our little clique.
I’d like to think that once Joseph got his head round that idea that he, a descendant of the royal house of Judah, was now going to be the link between the royal line and Jesus’s kingship over the whole world that he had this huge smile on his face. I wonder if that was why he was able to leave his reputation, his job, his town, and not just go to Bethlehem but then go on to Egypt to be part of making sure God’s plan came to fruition. He was willing not to need to be in the foreground; he could take an active part in Jesus’s early upbringing but be willing take a backseat in the Christmas story.
As I stay pondering this I hope that I am willing to take a backseat and not have to hog the limelight when God allows me to be part of sometimes in the lives of those around me. To not expect that I will get my recognition, my five minutes of fame, but that I will be ready and willing to do as I am being asked by the Creator of the Universe and just let it be.
That is my hope for me through this Advent season and into the unknowing of what 2023 beings.
Writing was originally posted on Aspirational Adventures on December 4th, 2022.
Or attend our next retreat – Following The Star Into the New Year
In January we celebrate Epiphany and the coming of the Magi to visit Jesus. Like them, many of us feel we are on a long journey following a star that is sometimes bright and shining, sometimes completely hidden yet still guiding us towards Christ. 2022 taught us important lessons that will shape the coming year. We sense God wants to do something new in our lives and we want to follow in the right direction.
Join Lilly Lewin and Christine Sine online Saturday, January 7th 2023 from 9:30 am PT to 12:30pm PT as they help us reflect on the past year and take time to hope, dream and pray for the year ahead. We will engage in some fun practices like chalking the door and interact with each other in ways that strengthen our faith and draw us closer to God.
Click here to register! We are once again offering several price points to aid those who are students or in economic hardship.
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