Pineridge Blog

And all the gifts which God can give to those God creates God has given to his son Jesus for us”  

—     Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, Chapter 55 LT

I took this picture while walking through Atchison, KS, this time of year a couple of years ago. I was there on a beautiful fall day and took the opportunity to walk down from the monastery where I was staying to the Missouri River and back. Atchison is right on the banks of the River and that is one of my favorite walks. As I was walking back near the railroad tracks I passed this nativity scene and shot a quick picture on my cell phone. 

I love that the manger is in an empty parking lot, out on a back loading dock, with pealing red barn paint and gray steel grain elevators in the background.  There is something paradoxical about it that makes it seem so out of place but yet, in just the right place. It was in a similar ordinary, working class place that Mary gave birth to the Son of God who was worshiped both by illiterate shepherds and wise foreign scholars.

My prayer for each of you this Christmas is that you know the joy of the birth of the Christ in your own, ordinary life. The hope of the Good News of the Gospel is that you are called to carry within you the life of the world, the Spirit of God’s own son. Even as in Christmas 2020 if you feel as though you are not in the “right place,” may it be the perfect place for God to be most present to you.

Hope of all hopes, dream of our dreams,

a child is born, sweet-breathed; a son is given to us: a living gift.

And even now, with tiny features and dewy hair, He is great.

The power of leadership, and the weight of authority, will rest on His shoulders.

His name? His name we’ll know in many ways—

He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Dear Father everlasting, ever-present never-failing,

Master of Wholeness, Prince of Peace. 

Isaiah 9:6  The Voice