A Broken Nativity: How We Come to the Stable

My family has a lot of Holiday traditions.  Some big, and some small.  They have adapted as our family has grown, but at their core they are still built on the value of our family being together.  That is one of my greatest gifts at Christmastime.

One tradition that started when my cousin Alana and I were very young was setting up the Nativity at my grandparents' house.  The frame of the stable sits under the grand piano in the living room.  There is an old-fashioned department store box full of Nativity pieces.  To take a census, there are about 10 sheep figurines, two donkeys, maybe a camel or two.  We've go three wise men.  A few shepherds.  Mary, Joseph, Jesus (who is the size of a toddler).  We've also got one huge angel and then a bunch of little angels (clearly originating from two different nativity sets).  Now, what sets our Nativity set apart is the variety of missing limbs from all the figurines.  We've had several amputations and re-attachments over the years.  We've got Mary with a shepherds hand.  Baby Jesus has a full grown man hand.  But regardless of the state of each of the figurines, the Nativity gets set up during Christmas.

One year we decided to incorporate the figurines from the Nativity into our cousin variety show (it's an annual event).  We decided to do a retelling of the Christmas story using the Nativity characters.  Joseph was recruited to play full grown Jesus.  Just as we reached the point of the story where Jesus grows up, his (Joseph) hand tumbles to the ground.  So I lifted up Joseph/Jesus and said "and then Jesus grew up to become the savior of all humankind...single-handedly."  My parents, aunts, uncles and even Grandma and Grandpa were rolling with laughter.  The whole event has been immortalized on home video.

The point of this story is not my 11-year-old, faulty theology.  All the broken pieces of the Nativity set make me think about how we would all approach the stable.  On Christmas Eve, or Christmas day we often put on our finest outfits for the candlelight service.  We "put ourselves together."  But over the past year, there may have been times of brokenness or struggle.  We may come with some scars - visible like my grandparents nativity, or invisible.

Some Christmas throughout our lives, we may all approach the stable a little broken.  We may have a piece or two missing.  And there at the stable, we are accepted whichever way we come.  Even as a baby, in Jesus' presence we are made whole.  We are invited in to be a part of a family, to be a part of a home.  When there is no room for us in the other lodging, Jesus makes room for us.  There may have been other people in Bethlehem who were enjoying the comfort of their private lodging that night, but the stable doors were open to welcome the travelers, the sick and the lonely, the broken.  They were invited into the presence of their King.

Over the years, none of the Nativity characters in my grandparents collection have been discarded.  Even those who are missing both hands, a leg, or various other parts.  We are always able to find a place for them.  The stable is open.  Come as you are into the presence of your King.

Merry Christmas.

~SP