The Lowly Creche

These musings sparked by the lowly creche scene above are shared as a Christmas greeting and as a longing for a world that is healthier, more whole, at peace, with fewer imperious tyrants and more courageously humble, wise leaders with a vision for the well-being of Earth and its peoples. 

So, this is my Christmas wish for you – dear reader – with hope, joy, love and the blessings of just peace for ALL our relations!     Harry Oussoren

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Luke 2

Taking seriously the Nativity Gospel as communicated in chapter 2 of St. Luke's Gospel is a complicated, but worthy affair. 

On the one hand, we hear about the Almighty using this particular time and place to “invade” the earth.  This era is when the mighty Roman Emperor reigned supreme in the Mediterranean world and further; when legions imposed the "Pax Romana" - oppressing challenging individuals and tribes and nations; when Augustus' decree sent local folks scurrying to their provincial hometowns to provide data confirming the emperor's reach; when throughout the Empire tribes “walked in the darkness” of mental, spiritual, and political subjugation and poverty.

On other hand, the divine "invasion" came to liberate not with spears and swords of challenging warriors ready to battle for power, nor with coercive measures to force obedience. No!  The Gospel report portrays this "invasion" as the birth of an infant, not in a Jerusalem palace or a five-star hotel, not in military barracks, not even in a village inn. The setting is just a rude stable surrounded by domestic animals - a donkey, a cow, some mice, a feral cat or two, and a tired human couple [with a local midwife], all hoping the child a-borning will be safe and allow them to rest.

To reinforce for faithful readers the down-to-earth nature of this event, Luke includes in the scenario some  shepherds. They abide in the fields and reside at the bottom of the social pecking order. This was the incredibly modest, lowly, and insignificant milieu where the Way of Jesus was launched. “Humble” doesn’t quite capture the essence.

Luke then goes on to paint a picture of a host of angels complementing with a heavenly chorus Gabriel's mystifying message to Mary (chapter 1:39 ff.).  The point:  to acknowledge that this little drama is no accident, no failure of protocol, no neglect of the divine arrangements committee.

Revelation

To the contrary.  It’s Gospel. It is an event to reveal the nature of God.  The self-giving, unconditionally loving One identifies with the homeless, the vulnerable, the weary, the marginalized, those with empty hands, and with those open to the Spirit’s leading the worn human family towards peace and good will on Earth.

Jesus’ lowly down-to-earth birthing has its origin and is orchestrated by the Holy One whose sole purpose is to love – to be Good News for all Creation.  Not just for people labelled “Christian,” but for the entire human familyl: atheists, agnostics, doubters, secularists, faithful folks who call themselves Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Baha’is, or a plethora of other “brands” of religious or ideological persuasion. 

And the point of this unconditional love story is that the wonderfully diverse creaturely world will be led by the Spirit dwelling in Jesus into ways that bring peace and good will.   So, the birth story starts readers and hearers on a Way further modelled clearly and poignantly by the all too short story of Jesus’ life. 

Jesus' Way

Some of the Way is what he taught – the Beatitudes, the Golden Rule, the Great Commandment. (Google those key words, they’re easy to find).

Some of it is told in little stories:  like the Good Samaritan responder, where religious boundaries are challenged by active love; or Jesus’ response to the trick question about paying taxes – all our wealth is a gift of the Divine and paying even the emperor’s taxes can be the sharing of that gift; and the parable of the self-satisfied rich man gloating over his barns on his last day; and the cautions about convicting  others – pull “the log out of your own eye”, if you’re without sin then “throw the first stone”, or the grasping “first shall be last”; can you “welcome the little ones”, or “visit, feed, clothe the marginalized and realize it’s visiting me (Jesus)”, can you be my “friends” and get rid of the idea of being my servants.   

Jesus lived diving deeply into the gifts of the Spirit with which all humans are endowed by the Creator for the well-being of All.

But Jesus was killed on the cross.  “Will good always be erased out by evil?” we ask in desperation!  Perhaps, but good people and even the apathetic have a mandate to resist evil.  Thanks be to God, Luke testifies to that in the closing chapter of his gospel - the “resurrection” of Jesus.  Even where evil and death seem to rule, the divine Spirit will not, cannot be snuffed out. The tomb is emptied. New life is awakened.  God’s love story with all Creation continues and will come to completion.

Down to Earth Love

Wherever individuals, families, groups, and communities live the love story – continue the divine “invasion”, there the resurrected Spirit of that humble baby is alive. No spirit of superiority, domination, manipulation, self-righteousness - this infant, this Human One.   Such costly hubris has too often been associated with the institutions that bear the name of Christ. 

Instead, both the lowly birth and the resurrection proclaim the ubiquitous Spirit of courageous humility, respect, compassion, grace, gentleness, kindness, justice,  hope, and all-encompassing love as the divine Way for the healing of the Earth.

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Thanks to John Sullivan, an experienced and practiced creche designer and creator, for gracing the front lawn of  the family home in Etobicoke with this humble, but beautiful creche.