Christmas...

Blogging about Christmas - Christ mas - Christ celebration. Here, and at mamampira, see-sawing between the two.
The Voice features this retelling of the story: I love the newspaper collage.

David Capes blogs on The Voice site. He has a thoughtful reflection on the genealogy of Jesus: he points out that Matthew "wanted to emphasize an important truth; even within Jesus’ family there were scoundrels, adulterers, murderers, prostitutes, and other unsavory characters. Why did Matthew want to do that? To signal to his readers that Jesus would be a friend of sinners. That he would welcome sinners—not just little “s” sinners, but big “S” Sinners—into the kingdom when they turned to him to mend their broken lives. Jesus’ family tree reminds us that though our sin may be great, grace is greater. So we included bits of Tamar’s and Rahab’s stories. You can read more about them in the Old Testament, of course, but most people won’t. We also included a commentary reminding you what it means that David fathered Solomon through the wife of another man, Uriah. Matthew could have whitewashed the whole affair by saying David fathered Solomon through Bathsheba. Instead he wanted to make sure that no one missed the irony, namely, the Messiah, the Son of David, came through a line where adultery, murder, and national shame enveloped the king in one of his most tragic moments. Still God was at work. Again, though, not everyone knows that story.

Rather than seeing these generations as just a list of names, consider seeing them as an index to a great story where human triumph and tragedy are participating in a great drama of redemption. God’s plan was not stopped in its tracks when people started acting badly. God did not need his people to live perfect lives in order to make sure the Perfect One arrived one day. The Father was able to redeem even the most sordid actions taken by Jesus’ ancestors, and deliver to the world at just the right time, a Savior born in Bethlehem."


He also talks about not becoming overwhelmed by the trappings of Christmas and recommends looking at The Advent Conspiracy, which has a neat little Advent calendar to help us do just that...