A babe lying in a manger

Our youth minister at Glen Mar, DC, had a great message for the kids this past Sunday. Well, it was meant for the kids, but I was moved by it, too, so with full credit to him for the theme, I summarize and share it with you. He led a discussion to make his point, while I'm trying to write the condensed version, but I hope that at least some of the message comes through.

In Luke's gospel (the Christmas story Linus recites), an angel tells the shepherds that "a babe lying in a manger" will be the sign for them of Christ's arrival. Why a baby? Why a manger? Yes, we know, there was no room at the inn, but surely God could have picked a time when there were vacancies, never mind a more dignified mode of arrival. But He did not, and not by chance. The great God of the universe did not come to mankind as a king, arriving with trumpets and heralds in a grand procession of power and glory because that's not why He was coming. He was coming to meet mankind in their darkness, in their dirt, when they were weak and lost. And so that's how He arrived: a weak, helpless baby, in a dark, smelly barn. (My apologies to any readers who are proud to have kept clean stables. You have to expect that barn out back of the Bethlehem Dewdrop Inn was probably not the finest in the land. And I don't care how clean your barn is, it's likely not where you would receive the king of all the world, if he came to visit.) We don't have to be dressed in our finest out on the high street to find God. When we are weak and we can't see, and our whole world seems like a dark, smelly place, Christ will meet us there. That is where He started His work on this earth.