Deep Calls

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Du kannst mir sehr gefallen! OK, we do something kind of crazy in December...some people as soon as the day after Thanksgiving...so I am just sure most of you already have done this crazy thing: We put a tree in our living rooms. Yes...We put a tree -- very very often -- an evergreen tree that was alive days ago, still green, still still smelling (wonderfully) of pine forests -- into our house. I know that since we all do it, it seems so normal and traditional and all that we really don't question it. We just do it! It doesn't seem odd, it doesn't seem to even warrant the question, "WHY am I doing this??" Then we decorate it with pretty, Christmas themed things: ornaments, garland, maybe popcorn and cranberries on a string, lights...a star or an angel on top. We leave it there and we let it shed its needles all over our living room floor. Why DO we do this? Is "because it is a Christmas tree" a good enough answer? Do...

Such a sweet couple...I won't forget them, that is sure! I wonder about them...I saw them last before .  .  . well .   .   . before the slaughter.  I wasn't there when they came. So much to do with the travelers and the Romans in and out. And Eli -- I could not believe! He put them in the stable!!!! Said he didn't even see she was with child ~ the LUNK!! He thought they looked tired, and just as he was about to turn them away, he thought of the stable. HUH! He could have put those camel drivers in the stable...how could he not have seen??  It was in the night...a funny night it was...it had been cold and drear all the week, but that night the stars shone so it look almost like day. And there was music in the night ~ Eli said it was a dream, but I heard it clear as clear ... even above his snoring! It was in the night I found out about them  --  after the music  .  .  . a commotion in the yard,     ...

So when we decorate at Christmas we use stars, we put them a top our trees, and we gild the rest of our decorations with stars, stars, stars. Why? OK, they ARE pretty! But lots of things are pretty. The stars of Christmas ... and the story of why we use the stars ... may be my favorite side story in this wonderful Advent adventure. I LOVE IT! It's multi-layered. It is awe-full...in the take-your-breath-away,-wonderful way, and sadly - in the chill-you-to-the-bone way as well. Now... - - - - - - - Sometime after Jesus was born, while he was still living in Jerusalem ~ as we will see from the story ~ when he was somewhere between birth and two years old, Magi came from the East with extravagant gifts to worship him. The story . . . at least the  end  of the story . . . is told in Matthew chapter 2. It is amazing ~ it is horrible. Wait...Matthew chapter 2 is the  end  of the story? ! ? YES! So, I can hear you asking, what is the beginning? The beginning...

"Alexi !!!  Here you are! When you were late to dinner ... again ... I finally came looking. I must say Sari is annoyed. She made lamb.  Reading the old scrolls again, Alexi...?" Looking up as if coming from a long way off and just now noticing his friend, "Ah Beltzi. . . .OH DINNER !!  I am sorry. I just meant to stop by for just a moment. Ahhh...its dark.!  Oh, I am so sorry! Come, is it too late? May we stop on the way? I must bring a gift to Sari to apologize." " ... and then the camels spit, right on the bundles ~ Alexi, are you even listening? Where are you? What has come over you lately?" "It is the scrolls, the old ones ... " "The scrolls? Again the scrolls? I love study as much as the next man, and I always thought MORE than you until ... what is it?" "I don't know, I swear they haunt me! I ... dream of them, no, don't laugh ~ I do! I think of them all day and find no peace till I go and read them. And...

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields near by...an angel of the Lord appeared to them ..." "I have always loved this view ~    the hills green, dotted with the sheep. I especially love being here on this side when it is their night where I can look  up  into these stars.  It is so quiet for them -- such a silent night. Look! The shepherds, mostly, are asleep...hmmmm, wait, there  -- see a few  -- there and there -- are on watch. Their eyes like eagles scan the darkness for shadows moving where they should not, but...mmm haha --We have no shadows. They are a wonder ~ men ~ don't you think?" "Remember David, sitting there alone ~ yes, just there  ~ with that harp, singing to his sheep, and to Him on all those dark nights. He is to call Himself David's Son, you know. It is, I think --  it is for him, for David, that we greet these men with this news now." "What I remember is that first time -- but that was E...

His Eyes She remembered their story in flashes : The first time she saw him,  setting down a load of wood to lift a child from the dust where she had fallen,  his voice tender, his eyes soft. The first time she caught his eyes.  She had looked up from the well into his eyes. The world had stopped. Her breath had stopped. The look he gave to her across the room when her father had given his consent. But then ~                   the look he gave her when she had to tell him she was pregnant. Rage,            shock,                               grief.  His eyes turned to stone. He turned his eyes away and stumbled from the room.  She thought the world would end.    OH, God,   I thought an angel would have come to him too. Why did you not tell him when you told me? 'May ...

Joseph's birth announcement Joseph kind of fascinates me. We know so little about him ... but in that little bit I can see so much. What do we  know ? Well, we know that he was from Nazareth. (Luke 1:26-27) We know that Joseph was in the family line of David the king. (Luke 1:6-16) We know that he was a carpenter, because Jesus was called a carpenter and sons learned their trades from their fathers. (Mark 6:1-3) and ...             really ...                             not much more.  OH ~ wait! We know he was betrothed to Mary, the mother of Jesus, when she became pregnant with Jesus, and that, at the time, Mary was a virgin ~ hence, Joseph was NOT the biological father of Jesus. We know that when Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, he was going to divorce her...