Tuesday, the Third Week of Advent - Births

Luke 2:1-7 (NIV)
¹  In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
²  (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
³  And everyone went to his own town to register.
⁴  So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
⁵  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
⁶  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
⁷  and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

 The world is filled with the big and powerful.  The headlines in Jesus' day were probably filled with Caesar's decrees, and the Senate's deliberations.  Maybe there was a fiscal crisis, or the threat of war.  There were taxes to collect, a census to gather in.  The government was big, powerful, and didn't let anything get in its way.

Then, as in now, everyday in fact, babies are born.  The powers to be are oblivious to the news.  They are filled with a sense of the crucial, the crisis, and not the coming to be.  Births remind us that God renews mankind everyday.  That the really important things in life come in humble beginnings, and with little fanfare.

Jesus came into our world to begin something new.  They didn't know anything about him, and yet within a few years he would begin to change the world in ways in which no politician or powerful dictator could ever imagine.  While the world's leaders cajole, threaten, fight, exercise authority over things and people; Jesus comes to hearts, one by one, and he asks to be let in...and each time someone lets Him in, the world changes one more time for the good.

I interrupt this Advent blog to say births still continue to change our worlds.  Three years ago today, Dec. 18, three beautiful children were born into our family.  Raewyn and Theo came into Pete and Lindsay's world, and Leo came into Chris and Sarah's world, and thus they entered into our world - the Papa and the Nana's...Happy birthday to all three of you.

Away in a Manger

No crib for His bed
The little Lord Jesus
Laid down His sweet head

The stars in the bright sky
Looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus
Asleep on the hay

The cattle are lowing
The poor Baby wakes
But little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes

I love Thee, Lord Jesus
Look down from the sky
And stay by my side,
'Til morning is nigh.