Tuesday, December 6, 2011

They were still guys ...

I've been pondering the Christmas Story.

Not the one with a red rider BB gun and swear words that I had forgotten before I showed my son many years ago ...

THE Christmas Story ...

and as I was reading this morning it struck me how differently the gospels might have read if even one of them had been written by a woman!!

Have you ever been in a room full of women and had the scene go something like this ...

"Did you hear that Sally was in labor for only 20 minutes before that baby came? Oh my!"

And the race is on ... how many hours labor, how many hours pushing, epidurals, C-sections, dilating ...

before you know it, the coffee has been depleted and the brownies have long been gone. Every mama has a story.

Even the most detailed AND BEAUTIFUL MIGHT I ADD account of the birth of Jesus in Luke ... is still so apparently written by a guy ...

I have never in all my life heard a woman begin her birth story with a genealogy ... when I talk about AJ I never even want to think about the fact that Roy and Ruby begot Patty and Anna Lucille and Kenneth begot Larry ... or even that Amy and Randy begot AJ ...

but Matthew did.

Mark and John ... well just the facts - um, and precious few of them about the birth of Jesus.

Luke's account is beautiful ... but there are things I want to know. Did Joseph stay by her side the whole time, did the innkeeper's wife banish him from the stable, did he pass out, was she scared without her mama there, did the time pass quickly or was it a difficult birth, how did Mary feel, how did Joseph feel, did the animals sense the presence of their Creator, did the night truly become silent, was there a Holy pause in the universe as the spiritual realm and the human realm intersected in a way words are helpless to convey, did the candles in the village flicker as the very presence of God made it's passage through this woman, did this young girl about the age of my students KNOW ...

I mean ... after all, there is a story to be told when you find yourself in the midst of life coming into the world.

It made me consider how we tell our re-birth stories. And how likely we are to look at the Matthew version of genealogy and recount where we came from ...

or we opt for the John and Mark versions and give precious accounts of what God is doing RIGHT NOW but we leave out that most sacred of moments when Jesus came in and made covenant with our past to secure our future in Him.

Some even give a more detailed account what happened but still few know the details of God's Story in our life.

What did He do that Silenced Your Night?
Have you told the world of your Joy?
When that Holy Night happened, what was going on? Were the stars brightly shining?
Did the Breath of Heaven sweep over you as you went through the re-birth process?
Did someone sing over you as the angels did on The First Noel?
What has His Faithfulness allowed you to be Joyfully Triumphant over?
When was the last time you revisited Bethlehem?
Ever felt like ther was no room in the In-n for you because of your circumstances?
Wonder if your lowly start in a stable would keep you from your purpose?

I think as I reflect on the songs of the season I will begin to see them a bit differently ...