I love Christmas!  I love the evening services …traditional…beautiful…a night that makes you forget the hustle and bustle of our fast paced world, a night that takes you away ………..to a place of beauty and Christmas magic.  And of course Christmas Day itself…the day of the birth…a busy, festive wonderful day.

This morning, we come together… and sing hymns praising the birth of the Messiah…and then go home to open presents and to feast with family and friends.     We sit here….and listen…. to the stories of faith and Jesus Christ, while at the same time a little voice in our head is trying to figure out if we need to buy more cranberry jelly.

This morning we are surrounded by friends, family and neighbours, and the familiar trappings of Christmas.  We’ve heard the gospel of Luke tell the story of Christ’s birth  and soon we’ll celebrate the Eucharist and go out into the world, life seems pretty perfect.  However, I think that there are some more stories to tell…different stories of mangers,  the crèche and of Bethlehem.

In our common understanding we are told that Christ was turned away at the guesthouse and born in a stable…but in Palestine and Israel ……..it is well known that Christ was born in a cave.

The cave was a common humble attachment to a house that allowed the animals to stay in the home with people and provide heat during the night.  So then, just like our story… Christ was born where the animals were stabled and laid in the food trough…but in a cave rather than a stable.  However, the interesting difference is the current setting of that cave.

Over time, it seems that the church felt that this humble setting was too poor for the prince of peace and the champion of the down trodden.           And I have to admit churchy folk do like to dress things up a bit…otherwise I’d be wearing burlap, not silk.

In any event in 2008 I went on a trip and visited Bethlehem…and while there I went to the church of the nativity, which includes the place where Jesus was said to be born.  The church of the Nativity was built starting in 327 and worshiped in almost continually since, the church of the nativity is vast and lavish…showing its age to be sure, but majestic.

Imagine if you will….The church is filled to the brim with hanging oil lamps, tapers and incense rising from bronze stands,      Constantinian frescos and mosaics on the walls and columns, icons of the Madonna and child covered with silver and gold, and in a side room stands an altar surrounded by expensive, old fabric…under this altar ….surrounded by icons and encircled by a silver star on the floor is hole.

People come from all over the world to put their hand in that hole…and if you do…. you touch a cold, smooth stone… the roof of the cave where Jesus was born.       The whole magnificent church was build to cover that rock, to provide a suitable housing for the worship of the most humble of babes.

Nearby another crèche is full of busy, devout people.  This place is called La Creche, and it is an orphanage run by catholic nuns.  It houses Palestinian children who have been born in the most desperate of circumstances.

Due to the high value that is placed on the virginity of Arabic girls (of any religion) in the area, any girl that becomes pregnant out of wedlock is in very real danger, both socially and physically.  La Creche cares for mothers, (about 50% of whom have become pregnant through abuse and most of whom are under 18 years old ) and the children (about 70% of the children have a disability of some sort due to failed and often makeshift attempts at abortion).

These children have little future and little chance of adoption.

Each year the nuns of La Creche take the children to visit the church of the nativity…and they tell the children the story of Jesus.  How the Son of God came into the world, born out of wedlock ...very similar circumstances to each of them.  It gives the children hope, it helps them know they aren’t alone.

We love to romanticize Jesus’ birth…to fill the manger with clean straw and have respectful, handsome shepherds visit with well behaved lambs…we like the blue robed, healthy happy Mary cradling the blond blue eyed baby, and her adoring husband to be Joseph looking on.

We celebrate Christmas with evergreen trees decked out with lights and tinsel, exchange gifts and eat till we can eat no more …and we love every bit of it!  And I’m not knocking it!  We’ve already had our Christmas breakfast…and sat round the tree opening our stockings and later we will be joining my very boisterous family in the annual gorging.

However, in this sparkling wonderland…full of lights and presents it is easy to gloss over the reality of Christmas.  To focus on the gold decor rather than the cave and the reasons Christ was born there.  We need to keep Christ a part of our Christmas celebrations…something that is very easy for people who come home to places in Israel where 8 foot concrete walls separate Palestinian families from one another and keep Christians from entering Jerusalem to worship.  But more difficult for we who are privileged.      We need to remember the realities that make the Christmas Cheerboard a necessity and shoeboxes part of our holiday gift giving.

We are often fortunate and don’t have to deal with Christmas’s that are full of pain and separation…but for those who do…Christmas is very different.

Christ came into this world in a very real way…crying and dirty like every other human child…so that he could know and experience what our lives are like.  Christ came teaching a radical message that was revolutionary in ancient Israel …..and his message is no less radical today.

Christ calls us to live our lives in love and charity toward our neighbour…  Christ calls us to step out of our comfort zones and come face to face reality.

Christ went out of his way to spend time, quality time with those on the margins of society.  He commended the widow who gave her last coin, and then spent the coin of his valuable time eating with treacherous tax collectors, women of bad reputation, people suffering from contagious and fearful diseases, thieves and many, many others.

Our Lord chose the path of faith over the path of prosperity throughout his life and in our gospels tonight we hear that even before he was truly born…his life was a humble one.  As we continue our worship this day, as we spend the rest of our morning delighting in the gifts we exchange, as we feast with family and friends…I pray that we will take time to recall how Christ spent his life … and the reason this little babe came to be born into our world so long ago.  I pray that we can reflect on Christ’s life, remembering our humility in the midst of ostentatious prosperity.

In this blessed season where generosity and humility go hand in hand,  may the Holy Spirit of Christ which directed his life in humility of servic  direct all of our relationships in the ways of humility, charity and love.

Amen.