Christmas 2020: Hope and Humility

Today, Christmas 2020, is a dark time for me and for so many. There are no decorations in my life today. All the normal traditions have been scrapped as they require being in person, traveling, eating together, and all these other activities that put people in danger this year.

I am not happy about it. I am in a pretty serious funk. My poor darling Steph is stuck dealing with me in this terrible mood.

Without all the noise of normal American Christmas, I am thinking into the vacuum left behind.

I am thinking about the first Christmas, the birth of Jesus. Assuming some amalgamation of the stories in the New Testament are roughly accurate, the event was a birth in an unusual location attended by some unexpected people. Whether or not the history is accurate, the story of that baby’s life has had a profound impact on history and upon billions of human’s lives.

Assuming Jesus was upon the earth for 33 years and had the impact that is reported, that birth is a resoundingly important moment. But what did those people that would someday be touched by that life know on the day of his birth? What of their ancestors that were contemporary to Jesus?

Probably nothing. It was an unremarkable day. If there was a Christmas star of some sort, that would have been one strange event, but it would not have changed the normal urgencies of life the next morning.

Forgive me, I am not a Bible scholar, so I am trying to be careful about my…