The Invisible Grace of Christmas
When I think about the conditions in which the ultimate incarnation of Grace came to be with us, I am humbled. Today’s representation of that day looks nothing like the first one.
On that blessed night, in the visible world, Grace was born…
* Out of a social shameful out-of-wedlock conception and apparent illegitimacy.
* From a carpenter and a peasant girl.
* Alone without any of the direct family around.
* In the most insignificant of small villages.
* In a stable with smelly animals, with unsanitary conditions.
* Placed in a feeding trough with spittle and munched straw.
* Clothed with common rag strips, probably his mother’s underclothes.
* Visited only by shepherds, and unworthy remains of peasantry.
But in the invisible world…
* Legions of angels were filling the sky and singing glorious praises.
* A special star was guiding wise men to a majestic destination.
* Four thousand years of prophecies were being fulfilled.
* God was manifesting himself in the space-time for the express announced purpose of dying as a sacrifice for our sins.
* The definitive way back to God was being revealed.
And so everything about the Christ’s day doesn’t scream Grace in today’s noise. It humbly whispers it in the invisible to the heart.
