Bishop Lucinda’s 2024 Christmas Message
Dear Beloved,
From childhood, the best part of decorating for Advent/Christmas was the disbursal of Nativity sets throughout my home. My Nativity sets are not great works of art; they are all from different places and they have seldom made the journey to my home without some sort of crack or chip.
The set from Alaska was gifted by a parishioner who visited there one year; it has “Alaska” lettered on the front of the igloo. I have a crude earthenware set from Peru as well as many others from a variety of places. The Nativity sets have different animals and people in attendance. Some are unexpected, like the seal in the Alaska set—but why not? Other sets have no animals, only human figures.
Each Nativity set is an amalgamation of what is present in the gospel stories of Matthew and Luke, allowing for the shepherds of Luke’s story to be in the same places as the Magi from the East in Matthew’s. There is no right nor wrong about who gets to be present and on display in the Nativity story.
When I decorate, I arrange these Nativity scenes very carefully. I used to have the figures symmetrically arranged around the Babe in a Manger, with my eye measuring the accurate distance between the figures. Now, I am more conscious of the fact that symmetry was not likely on the minds of those who gathered.
Often, I make the rounds of these different sets. As I rearrange the figures, I mentally review the Nativity Story, as first one figure, then another takes a more prominent place in the display. Right now, Mary is closer to the front, with Joseph, the Shepherds, and the Angel standing in the background. The kings are often off-scene. The animals are scattered.
For me, this rearrangement of figures is a spiritual exercise. As I touch each one, my heart opens to wonderment and curiosity. There is a gentle spaciousness, room for each participant in the story to find their connection with the manger. What did they know? What did they wonder? What did they yearn for? Whom did they seek?
This is a good time to allow ourselves to be in a place of gentle spaciousness, opening our hearts and minds to our yearnings: hope that never ends, peace that lives in every heart, joy that enriches our whole lives, love that casts away all darkness.
I invite you to be with me in that place, in prayer and reflection. Let the Nativity scene before our eyes take root in our lives as together, we glimpse the world as God dreams it.
May the blessings of the manger find a dwelling place in your heart.
Faithfully,
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