Christmas Spirit

We strive for perfection, we don't usually achieve it at Christmas

The Turkey is overcooked and burnt
The potatoes are like bullets
Uncle Fred gets drunk
Mum has just had a minor row with her new daughter-in-law,
they are both tight lipped - she has just announced she is a veggie!
Granny doesn't like her presents
Gran-Pa is annoyed with her and has just kicked the cat
The dog knocked over the Christmas tree
There is a power-cut
Dad has put too much brandy on the pudding, its catches the curtains alight
Auntie Molly broke her dentures on a mince pie
Great Uncle Bob shouldn't have eaten the sprouts
The children all eat too many sweets, so they are either sick or hyper
The neighbours are having a row
etc, etc, etc

This is the Spirit of Christmas and Jesus wants to be part of it, to become one with it all. in all the nonsense of it and with all the imperfection of most people's Christmas. It is never going to be as perfect as we want it to be. Human beings are not perfect, there are always flaws, always something going wrong.

In the muck and filth of a Bethlehem stable He is Emmanuel, 'God with us', He wants to be amongst us, that is all. He doesn't make the stable perfect, there is no tinsel, the smell and stench is there before, during and after his birth. It is as it is, the best they can find but far from perfect. There is no tinsel. The angels sing away in the fields. The shepherds come, and they aren't CRB checked, some are downright shady, so are the neighbours. God doesn't change the stable, he simply comes to be present.

Actually Christmas, the real one is ghastly, no preparations, the midwife a stranger, no family around. It happens amongst strangers.
Jesus' message is "Come to me ..." He wants to be with us, we are called to choose, either we gather with him and learn to love Him and come into an ever closer union with Him or we are deaf to his call and remain outside of presence.

The choice given to us is either to say "Yes" to Him or remain strangers.