Grace In a Manger

Christmas is happy, Easter is hard.

At least, that's how I thought about it when I was younger.

Christmas, I thought, was the cheery holiday that evoked images of a sweet baby Jesus, a manger full of fresh-smelling hay, joyful shepherds, a glorious star and a partridge in a pear tree.

The real theological meat was diced at Easter, I believed.  Easter was about blood, death, and victory won only through the harshest pain.  Easter was about sanctification and propitiation and all those other "-ation" words that my pastor is supposed to explain to me.

And so, in my simple little head, Christmas was happy, Easter was hard.  At Christmas, we could just sit back and not think too hard, sip our egg nog, and gaze at our happy little nativity scene in which Mary looks all clean and regal, not like a scared young teenager who just went through labor next to a cow.

That was then.  I've been around the block a few times now.  I don't see Christmas in quite the same way.

I look around and see homeless people and sick children and crooked politicians and hungry nations and angry young people and bitter old people...and I wonder why on earth Someone would leave Perfection for such a dirty old planet as this?

I know we needed a Savior, and desperately, but to choose to come?  To enter humanity at its dirtiest--poor parents in a barn, of all places--to endure the hardest parts of being human with only the promise of the pain of ultimate sacrifice?

Maybe Christmas isn't easy after all.  Maybe it's as gritty and earthy as the darkest moment on the cross. 

But OH, is it ever beautiful.  It's as beautiful as any Easter sunrise, as victorious as a heavy stone pushed away from a tomb.

In one glorious, cosmic, explosive moment, the God of our Universe leapt into our messed-up world.  Victory wrapped in swaddling clothes. 

Hope nursing at His mother's breast. 

Grace in a manger.

This post was originally published on December 20, 2007.

Comments

[kim]

what a wonderful awesome post!! i read it to my family this morning.
thank you so much!!!

[pam @ without fear]

Simply beautiful. Just as poignant the second time around, dear Shannon. May you and your family have a blessed day filled with the beauty of Christmas.

[Tammy]

How beautifully put. I hadn't looked at the two holidays that way before. Very interesting.

[Lee]

Lovely, thank you.

[Katy]

:) Thank you for that reminder. I hope you have a joyful Christmas!

[Carrie]

Yes, I had my first child (a son) last December, and Christmas & Easter were VERY powerful for me this year- just the thought of sending my son somewhere that I knew he'd be hurt, let alone die...it's unthinkable. How very much God sacrificed for us.

[Debbie]

Powerful insights, dynamic prose. Thanks for repeating it for the benefit of those like me who haven't had the pleasure of reading it before.

[edj]

Thanks, Shannon. That was beautiful.

[Jerry]

Thank you, shannon

Have a great day!

[Sarah the secret blower]

Nice, very nice!

[LammyAnn]

Merry Christmas!
Thanks for your thoughts and experiences.
May 2009 be filled with joy and happiness.

[Sue T]

Beautiful.

[Truth Intersects Life]

Love this post!