Look for the Manger

This week, we are

moving into the rhythm that we go through during the last full week before

Christmas. Not only is my church preparing for next Sunday’s special services with Handel's Messiah in the morning and

Sunday night’s “Live Nativity” presented for our community, and not only do we

look forward to Christmas Eve services shortly after that, our hearts and hands

are preparing at home. We are shopping and cooking, mailing packages and

sending invitations, and attending parties.

It seems like this time of year, we

are always looking for something. We look for things

like the tape and the new roll of wrapping paper, the addresses we misplaced,

and the cinnamon that we were sure we left on the counter.

But I invite you to

take time each and every day to look for something else – something more

precious and mysterious and wonderful. I invite you to look for the manger.

You may ask, “Is it

lost? Why do we need to look for the manger? Did someone misplace it after the

Kindergarten program on Friday?”

What I mean is

this. The great miracle of the incarnation was placed in the simplest of

settings. The majesty and glory of God was laid in an animal trough. The King

of Kings was laid in a blanket of prickly hay.

In that spirit, I

invite you to look for the simple things that hold the greatest mysteries this

season. The deepest meaning of Christmas does not come in the form of the most

fantastic and festive. It comes to us in the warmth of night that can only be

found in the coldness of a barn, the willingness to do what you must with what

you have, and the simplest of arrangements.

Look for the manger, and you will

find something special this year.

Originally at Musings of a Musical Preacher Read the original ↗