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Thirty years ago, my husband and I appeared in a Nativity play at our local church. We are not natural actors and were fortunately given no words to say. The reason for the invitation was the fact that we had a new born baby! And so we joined a tableau on Christmas Eve, surrounded by children dressed as shepherds, angels and kings, and celebrated the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.
Looking at our own baby boy, I found myself in the shoes of Mary. She was a young girl, with nowhere to stay, no doctor on hand, no family to offer support. Her experience was so different to mine. And yet she willingly said yes to the angel when told that she would give birth to the Son of God.
The Christmas story is one of promise and hope and yet one that speaks of the grittiness of life. Jesus was born to humble parents in a place far from home, they would need to flee from danger and become refugees. The baby born in a manger was the Son of God who chose to leave the splendour of heaven to live among us and share the reality of life. We can take comfort that he knows when we are struggling, he has experienced that himself, and that there is nothing that we can’t take to him now and ask for his comfort and peace. Jesus was born so that we could know life in all its fullness and I pray this Christmas that you might glimpse something of that for yourself.
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