This may not be a popular opinion to many in my hometown, but I am weary of Easter encroaching on the celebration of Christmas.
Crosses are beautiful symbols of the victory over death, but to me, the birth of a newborn infant laying in a manger is a powerful image that does not need additional representation.
A new life, the beginning of a movement that could transform our hearts and change the world.
God with us, at his most vulnerable, before he had the opportunity to share miracles with anyone, Jesus comes to us totally helpless, and making himself completely reliant on the care of humans.
How God must love us, to put that much trust in two mortal beings.
How much God must have envisioned for us, to have such faith in this humble family, this insignificant community to raise and teach His son.
We celebrate this as a season of gift-giving because we were given the best gift of all – an emissary, an heir of God – who later called us his children and joint-heirs to the creator of our universe.
Since I was a little girl, manger scenes have always been my favorite Christmas decoration. To me, they symbolize a love and longing of an all-powerful God for the people of his creation.
Like the ‘star of the east,’ that love shines so brightly that its mere promise cuts through the world’s overshadowing greed and fear to touch our hearts.
Let’s lay aside, just for a time, the symbols of Easter, and take a moment – nay, let’s take a season – to bask in the promise, the potential that God birthed in all of us, for Love, Peace, and Joy that we can share with the world.
Feliz Navidad.
Merry Christmas.
Joyeux Noël.
