By the Way: Find your manger moment

By REV. JEFF LACKIE on December 31, 2021.

The parcels are delivered. The leftovers are wearing thin. But the season lingers.

Here we are – making our way through this second ‘COVID Christmas.’ Too often this year we have been reminded that nothing is as we imagine it should be. We feel displaced, exhausted, anxious and unsettled, and perhaps it is helpful to remember that the first Christmas, angelic choirs notwithstanding, was also a challenging time for those involved.

Today, I invite you to sit with Mary in the blessed aftermath. The shepherds have run jubilant into the streets, returned to their lonely duties. For a moment, let it be just Mary with Jesus; comforted by the secret delight that many new mothers discover when they discover themselves alone with their newborn for the first time. Mary – for the moment – sits wondering, soothing, nursingâ€¦ and remembering.

Remembering her own encounter with the Holy; her conversations with Elizabeth; her moments of doubt; the long, tiring journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. She has heard and imagined the best and the worst for her child in all this time, and now, faced with the beautiful reality of this precious gift, imagine her treasuring the quiet – rejoicing in the reality – and truly, truly thankful.

It seems to me that thankfulness is often the first casualty of our Christmas celebrations. Lost in the noise and the preparation – hidden by the travel plans and the current uncertainty – is thankfulness. So here at the manger with Mary – mindful of the stories we’ve heard and those we have yet to tell – let us be thankful.

Thankful for the support we’ve found and the connections we’ve made in spite of everything. Thankful for the love that finds us at Christmas even when we’re skeptical and cynical and lost in the chaos that manages to claim us every December. Thankful for surprise plates of baked goods. Thankful for good memories that sustain us in dark times. Just thankful.

Mary knows the quiet won’t last – so do we. The next bit of chaos will find us soon enough, whether we are ready or not. So just claim your own ‘manger moment’ when you can. Thank God for the gift of that brief, quiet moment, when, against all odds you saw Christmas for what it really was: the introduction of divine peace, offered as an answer to the chaos of our own making. Rejoice and be glad, God is with us. Merry Christmas.

Rev. Jeff Lackie is Minister of Word and Sacrament at St John’s Presbyterian Church in Medicine Hat