Peggy L. Harvey-Marose, the pastor of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lewiston, wrote the following editorial at the request of the Lewiston Tribune.
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Merry Christmas.
I pray that you are surrounded by your loved ones and snug in your home as you are reading this on Christmas morning. I pray that there is plenty of food on the table and that wherever you are, it is safe and warm. That is my prayer. But I know that not everyone will have those privileges this Christmas. I know that in our community and in communities around our country and around the world, there are millions of individuals who are without — without food, shelter, warmth, community and, most of all, hope. This reality is contrary to the vision of Christmas that we share in our thoughts and our media. We want Christmas to be the perfect Norman Rockwell version that we romanticize. That is the Christmas we want. But when this story of Christmas started 2,000 years ago, there was no Norman Rockwell in sight.
Jesus was born in a barn to an unwed mother whose fiance had defied convention and remained with her despite her disgrace. They had traveled to Bethlehem because of a decree from the emperor that everyone be counted, probably so they could be taxed to maintain the foreign empire that occupied the land. When Mary gave birth to Jesus, she had nothing to take care of her child with and so she wrapped strips of cloth around her precious child. Throughout the centuries, we have embellished the story with helpful people and friendly beasts surrounding them. But the story that is told in Luke’s Gospel is without embellishment. Mary and Joseph were on their own.
This is the savior we celebrate on this day. This savior came as a poor, defenseless baby with nothing but the love of his mother and surrogate father to sustain him. As this child grew into an adult and began to teach those around him about the God who had sent him, he remembered the song of his mother (the Magnificat — Luke 1:46-55) that spoke of the lifting up the lowly and sending the rich away empty. He preached about bringing good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed and the year of jubilee (Luke 4:18-19). These words put him in direct opposition to the empire, the wealthy and the powerful. These words caused him to be rejected by his home town. Because of these words, he ultimately was killed by those in power.
The world has not changed much in the last 2,000 years. Empires still conquer the weak. The poor still struggle to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads. The powerful and wealthy still do everything they can to maintain their position and control. And sometimes I am the poor and sometimes I am the one with power and control. But let us tell the story again of the one who came into the world as a helpless baby, the one who came for the outcast and the forsaken, the one who came for me even when I forget what Christmas is about.
Jesus, the son of God, came into the world to change the world — to change us. When we are more concerned with our possessions than our neighbor who has little or nothing, we forget the reason Jesus came into the world. When we are blind to the needs of our neighbors across the street and across the world, we forget the love that he shared with us so that we might share it with the world.
May your Christmas celebration include a thought for those who have less than you. May you raise a prayer for the captive and oppressed. But most importantly, may you be changed by the birth of this baby who came to change the world.
Merry Christmas.
