Piloting Faith: Someone Stole Jesus...

A Word for the Day...

A few years ago during the Christmas season, we had a neighbor with a nativity scene positioned out by the road with Mary and Joseph, the baby Jesus, and all of the barn animals. They put this nativity out every year. Then, one year, this beautiful scene suffered a terrible loss. Someone stole the baby Jesus. When you drove by this nativity scene, instead of noticing the wooden figures of Mary, Joseph and the animals, your eyes are drawn to a handmade sign beside them that says “Please return our baby Jesus.”

Sometimes that is how I feel about Christmas in our world today. Someone stole the baby Jesus. We've domesticated his birth with ribbons and bows and endless presents. We ignore the reality that his birth was, in fact, an inbreaking of God's presence like never before in history. It was a call to revolutionary love.

I want to put Christ back into Christmas, though not for the same reason that some more conservative Christians do. I want the full love revolution he embodied, and peace on earth for all people. Putting Christ back into Christmas means:

feeding the hungry
clothing the naked
forgiving the guilty
welcoming the immigrant and the unwanted child
caring for the ill
loving your neighbors.

Jesus birth was a wake-up call, showing us that love wins. Love is the point. Love in the revolution and the revelation. Let's make it so in our lives and world today. It's then that we will have put the Christ back in Christmas.

- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Prayer for the Week

Loving God,

Sometimes I can look at someone and see their pain. I can see their loneliness and feel their sadness. Sometimes I look in the mirror and see those things in me. Help me to not turn away or ignore what I or others are really feeling. Give me the patience to sit with my neighbors as they navigate their pain and welcome their accompaniment as I navigate my own. Through it all, help us all remember that we are not alone. You are with us always.

Amen.