Manger, Magi, Bethlehem ........

Birth is a wonderful experience. I don't recall my own as Freud might have observed I was probably to traumatised.

Sadly I missed the Births of my first three children.

The first I was ordered out of the Hospital by the Mid-wife, it was like that in Yorkshire in 1971.

The second I was busy looking after the first child.

The third I was busy looking after the first two children.

But the fourth, well by the fourth, new house, new baby as the old wives tell it, we lived in Newcastle and we had a network of support, so the girls were dispatched to friends and I was in the hospital and he was born.

There was much laughter, encouragement and rejoicing and his mother observed, 'if it was always like that I could manage one a year'.

I can only imagine the Birth in Bethlehem.

Joseph defending Mary's honour. Seeking a place to stay. Worried about the imminent Birth.

In my new house there is at the back of what we call the Garage a stable, there is a room above the stable and there is a fireplace and a grate.

I guess that the farrier might have lived above warmed by the fire and the heat rising from the animal.

There are hooks and there is a corner where the Horse might be fed, but there is no Manger.

But there might not have been one in Bethlehem, just no room at the Inn.

There might not have been Kings, at least not three.

The Gospels tell the Christmas Story in thirty nine verses.

It is not mentioned by Mark or by St John. Yet it has become a key story in our understanding of the meaning not only of Christmas but of the Gospels as the fulfilment of Prophecy.

In Isaiah we read:

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,

 The stable was we are told in Bethlehem, maybe or maybe Luke and Matthew were keen to demonstrate that scripture was being fulfilled by this Birth in the City of David.

 The Name Bethlehem is made up of two Hebrew words: Beth means House. Lehem means Bread. So Jesus, the Bread of Life, whose Bread we share Sunday by Sunday, was born in the House of Bread.

 As we pray in the prayer he taught his disciples and us that this Bread my become our daily bread, our sustenance, our hope and our encouragement as we seek to follow the Christ Child in our daily lives.


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