"Upside Down"

Every day more condiments on the grocery store shelves are turned upside down. The new plastic containers are designed to stand on their caps yet the label is right side up. No more watery stuff on the top, no messy gunk around the lid, no shaking, just pour!

The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem turned our world upside down! This backwater, boring town known as “The House of Bread,” though a trivial place, became of tremendous importance in the redemptive story of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.

Light flashed into a world doubled over with hunger, violence and darkness. The message was, “You will call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.”

Suddenly, the world turned from the rational to revelational. Jesus Christ is the truth we cannot master but a truth before which we can surrender. God’s answer to meaninglessness was not a program or a principle but a person.

I hope in the season of Advent, you let something of Bethlehem’s joy seep into your celebrations. The writer of this carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem, put it this way, “How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given….”  Let the serenity of this holy season wash over you.

Blessings!