Christmas Exposed

This is the eleventh in a series of 12 personal reflections on Christmas posted during the 12 Days of Christmas.

Evidently there area a lot of things that I don't get about Christmas. The musings that I have posted over the last 10 days have been an attempt to sort some of it out. But there is one part of the Christmas story that still stupefies me. It is a part that we rarely talk about.

Christmas is about being vulnerable.

Christmas is a season where we go to great lengths to show that we are in control. On top of already busy lives we toss in parties, shopping, decorating and then insist on a facade of cheer. There is no place for sadness or depression. There is no place to admit that we belong to screwed up families. There is no place to be realistic about finances or the fact that we already have more than we need. It is not acceptable to be tired, weary, worn or grumpy. Be nice, smile and keep going. That's what we do at Christmas.

The Christmas story has long been interpreted this way too. In a crazy, messed-up, sin-ridden world God is in control and has a plan. God will send a Son into the world: A God-Man who will pay the price for our ticket out of here when we die. He will be nice. He will smile. And he will keep on going through the most agonizing and stress-filled events life can hand him.

The preacher says, "We should too."

But what if we interpret the story a bit differently. What if we see that in this crazy, messed-up, sin-ridden world God chooses to be completely opposite of "in control" and becomes totally and utterly vulnerable. Is there anything more vulnerable than a new-born infant? It can't communicate, can't move, can't find food or water on it's own and wouldn't be able to digest it if it could. A new born is as vulnerable and dependent on the care of others as anything I can imagine.

Now let's expand this notion a bit. If you are a God in control and you do choose to become human by birth wouldn't you choose to be born into a family with the means of supporting you? Yet in this story God chooses a peasant couple whose relationship is rocked to the point of breaking by the surprise pregnancy. They are displaced. Over the next few years they will be forced to move to a far country, leaving family and support structures behind even though they have no experience doing this. And why, please tell me why a God who wants to be in control would choose a time in history when infant and childhood mortality rates are so much higher than they are now.

The virgin birth is a small miracle compared to that of a child surviving to adulthood under these circumstances.

Maybe the Christmas story is God's way of saying that it's okay to be vulnerable; it's okay not to be in control. God will live in a family that is a bit dysfunctional. God will be forced to go places and do things by forces that are outside of his control. God will find peace in all of this by being a servant to the sick and lowly.

Then the preacher says, "Maybe we can too."