Mike's musings

Christmas and laughter

It's not always easy to laugh, but having a 22 month old daughter certainly helps things along sometimes. She's a big fan of reading her bible in the morning ("Jesus in it"), and this morning, as most mornings, she wanted to read the Christmas story. So we opened it up. "Angel, Mary". We agreed. "What," I asked Jo, "did the angel say to Mary?" "Boo!" she replied. Which probably pretty much sums it up, from Mary's point of view. How she had the presence of mind to come up with Magnificat, given the fact that she'd just been informed - completely out of the blue, by an angelic being - that she was not only going to give birth to a child out of wedlock, but that he'd be God's own son, is beyond me, but all credit to the girl/woman.

They must have been almost at Bethlehem, or maybe already installed in a stable, trying to make the most of a bad job. As a father, I can imagine Joseph, scared witless (think about infant and female mortality rates in childbirth at the time), and being as positive as possible: "it's not too dirty, darling, and I can get some softer hay to replace the straw, and maybe we can use the manger: we'll feed the ox and the ass on the floor, or by hand. At least the animals will keep us warm, and we've got the swaddling clothes that your cousin gave us after their little John was born." And all the time, knowing that the baby was not entirely his. We pay less attention to Joseph than we ought to do.

I'm finding it easier to explore the godly and the theological at the moment. And I don't know why. The obviously spiritual aspects of my life are close to missing, but God provides. Through family, through this blog, through the blogs of others, through the other media, particularly the radio. I have an essay to write, and no idea where it's going to come from, but that's the way of the world. God's world.

Jo knows to say "Amen" now. And "Alleluia", though her pronunciation's a little bit off. We'll take her to carols tomorrow.

Labels: Christmas, Jo, Joseph, Mary, theology