I came across an article from the Christian Post that 5,000 Christians attended a rally to support a Nativity display at a Texas courthouse. It prompted me to blog about my thoughts on Christmas 2011.
First, from my observation we are all so high-strung and easily offended these days. This applies to Christians and non-Christians alike.
Why does the Nativity display at the local courthouse offend the atheists so much? It can’t be their desire to uphold the separation of church and state clause in the Constitution because it contains no such wording. Now there are words on prohibition of government to establish religion, but how we interpret “establishment” today is quite different than how our Founding Fathers defined it. After all, when the first continental congress opened, it begun with a prayer to God. And this prayer was not directed at just any generic multi-cultural “god” but rather the God of the Bible. You won’t mistaken the identity of God when you read the opening sentence of the prayer offered by Rev. Jacob Duché on the morning of September 9, 1774, “O Lord our Heavenly Father, high and mighty King of kings, and Lord of lords, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers on earth and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all the Kingdoms, Empires and Governments; look down in mercy, we beseech Thee, on these our American States, who have fled to Thee from the rod of the oppressor and thrown themselves on Thy gracious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent only on Thee.” This rich, not to mention humble, tradition continues even today. Obviously those who penned the very words of the “anti establishment” clause in the Constitution didn’t see any contradiction with open display of faith on public property.
Why does removing baby Jesus from the town square offend Christians so much? It was this question that led me to ask another (to me a more pertinent) question, “Why do some Christians insist on keeping Christ in the manger?”
Without going into all the amazing and incomprehensible things it took for God to dwell with men cloaked in human frailty, the Christ Child born in that manger was fully divine and yet totally helpless. The Creator of the universe is now wholly depending on Mary, Joseph, and others to feed, change, nurture, love, and protect Him.
Perhaps as a Christian we want to keep Christ as a babe in the manger because He is so small, frail, and nonthreatening. The baby Jesus is someone we can come, greet, and worship on our own terms. The newborn Jesus can’t tell us how to act godly through the Beatitudes. He couldn’t tell us, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” He couldn’t remind us if we choose to follow Him then the world “will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.” The Babe is quite different from the Man.
Don’t get me wrong, it is a great tradition to commemorate the birth of Christ by displaying the Nativity scene. We have several around the house. God’s lavish generosity was displayed in the manger. However, I am thankful that Jesus didn’t remain a helpless baby just like He didn’t remain dead inside the tomb. Instead as the angel proclaimed to the women on Resurrection day, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said.” God’s extravagant generosity was displayed on the Cross and in the Resurrection.
Where is your Jesus this Christmas?
For me, this Christmas, I will be looking (with my heart) at an empty manger and hearing the whispered words, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was born in the manger. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said.”
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