In choir we have been working on Christmas anthems over the past several rehearsals. We are singing a variety of beautiful, sometimes ethereal, songs that give expression to Jesus’ natal story. Many good words are found in the lyrics. Some catchy rhythms comprise the music, with more than a few disconsonant chords, which are there by intention.
Jesus’ birth comes unexpectedly to a world embroiled in oppression for some, domination by others. It comes as “light” into darkness, hope into despair, life into barrenness, and spark to tender. Jesus’ birth changes everything, though humankind continues to act and believe otherwise.
Jesus’ birth is about redemption and reconciliation. It’s about hope and promise, covenant renewed and restored, mission set in further motion, and the fullness of time being realized. Jesus’ birth is the “already but not yet” of the Kingdom of God, inaugurated and begun, set forth and set free. It’s a morning song bursting forth at daybreak. And it’s a mourning song coming to a mother’s lips at end of day.
Everyone has a unique birth story, yet in Jesus’ birth we each have the ability to find our story of rebirth as well. Birth is hard. It’s difficult to enter this world. It’s the stuff of “labor” and pain, moaning and groaning. Let us not be glib in thinking otherwise. Yet, there’s little said of that side of Jesus’ birth in the Scriptures. We do not get a report of Mary’s waters breaking, or the length and struggle of her labor. The closest thing to Joseph’s anxiety we see is the difficulty he has in procuring lodging for his family in a “stuffed to the rafters” Bethlehem Town.
The gospel writers, like the hymn and anthem writers after them, do not choose to dwell on the struggle, save for what can be deduced about the difficulty of a registration pilgrimage at 9 months of gestation. Why? I suspect it’s because like most birth stories, the focus moves quickly from the pain and struggle of the process to the joy and relief of the outcome.
A newly born, healthy baby is greeted with awe and fascination at the Creator’s design. We wonder who this child will become, and how they are already blessing and making our lives more full. From the moment of safe arrival a birth signals that all has changed. That which we didn’t even know was missing has now brought fulfillment. It’s as if this was always meant to be.
So it is with Jesus’ entry into our world, our lives and hearts. This is the wonder of Christmas.
© Daniel M. Cash 2025
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