Christmas Eve… “In”

I’ve had a few thoughts this weekend, regarding Christmas. I’ve been to a couple of Christmas Eve services. Both had their strengths (not that I’m rating them), and I was struck by a contrast. One that I went to, was able to stay at the manger… the other was not. I wonder why the one stuck in the manger spoke to me more than the other.


The one that couldn’t stay at the manger reminds me that the manger isn’t the end of the story… there’s a life lived and a sacrifice made. This is an appropriate part of the whole story. Often, though, it feels like we want so quickly to get to the end of the story, that we pass over important beginnings.

The one that remained stuck in the manger… made me stick. It made me ponder a hay-filled, dung-smelling, birthing place for the creator God coming close to God’s creation.

The story goes that, “there was no room in the Inn.” I sometimes wonder if, even for Jesus followers, we leave little time for room in the “In”… the “In-between,” the ‘In-process,” the “In-coming.” Isn’t this where Jesus first comes?

And we pondered at this service that, if God can show up here… he can show up anywhere, any time, in any circumstance.

Let Jesus come to the “in.”
Let the story unfold.

Let’s stretch ourselves and embrace the uncomfortable in-between. This is where Jesus meets us.
At the manger.

In.

My friend Adam Kenyon wrote this song. It’s been my central Christmas song this year. Here are the lyrics.
Merry Christmas, friends.

THIS IS WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS
Adam Kenyon

Unmarried and with child
The hope of the whole world
Came alive and kicking
In the womb of this young Jewish girl

She traveled on her journey
Folks believed she was a liar
It wasn’t what they pictured as
The rise of their messiah

Imagine how they looked at her
Do you think she felt like you?
Do you supposed she ever doubted
That God was coming through?

This is what Christmas means
Not just miracles
But the in-betweens
It’s darkness
Where the light breaks through
And Jesus comes to me and you

Enters in
And intervenes
This is what Christmas means

Endured the labor of our lord
In a dank and dirty place
The family inn had room for a whore’s disgrace

The kept the law they purified
And then the prophet told
The worst ain’t over yet
A sword will pierce your soul

Imagine what they thought right then
Do you think they felt like you?
Do you suppose they ever wondered
If he’s ever see them through

This is what Christmas means
It’s not plastic pretty manger scenes
It’s darkness
Where the light breaks through
And Jesus comes to me and you
Enters in and intervenes
This is what Christmas means