Welcome from Pastor Patrick Curley

“Mary Christmas”

Now I can’t swear to it but I’ll just bet that somewhere there is a Mr. and Mrs. Christmas.  I’m not confused with that fictitious couple on the North Pole here.  I’m just saying that there are many unusual names around.  And if there is such a couple and if they had a little girl, I’ll just bet they couldn’t refuse calling her Mary.  Mary Christmas.  What a pun.  But, in fact, Mary and Christmas do go together even apart from the usual greeting this time of year.  Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ and Mary is the virgin maiden who conceived through the Holy Spirit.  Through Mary, God became man.

So if Mr. and Mrs. Christmas had a little boy, what would they name him?  Jesus, Y’shua, Immanuel?  All these fit as they have to do with Christmas, too.  Jesus means “the Lord saves” and it is the given name for the one born of Mary.  Y’shua is the Jewish origin of that Greek name.  And Immanuel, also a kind of given name, means “God with us”.  Through Jesus, “the Word made flesh”, God came to dwell with man.  Our Lord brought us back together having canceled the debt of our sin that had separated God and man.

Well even if there isn’t a Mr. and Mrs. Christmas, there is a Mary and Joseph.  And even if there isn’t a Jesus Christmas, there is our Lord Jesus Christ.  I think it is a wonderful part of the Christmas story that it starts with a family.  But like most families, the real Christmas family had its share of difficulties.  The bride was pregnant and if that weren’t enough, it wasn’t by the groom.  As stated above, Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit.  There was no impropriety.  It took an angelic visit, but Joseph came to know that and took his young bride to be his own but had no relationship with her until Jesus was born.  Then there was the census that dragged them from Nazareth to Bethlehem, no easy trip as Mary was with child.  Then once in Bethlehem, there was no place to stay.  All the hotels were booked.  They took refuge with animals.  What mother today would have accepted those filthy conditions to bring forth her first born?  And then all those smelly shepherds came barging in to take a look and hold the new baby?  I’ll bet Mary wished they had invented Purcell by then.

Sometime later some sages (wise men, not the spice) from the East came bringing expensive gifts.  That had to help with the family budget that was probably pretty strained about now.  Just when things were settling down, another message came by angel to high tail it out of Bethlehem to Egypt because the local government wanted to kill the child.  Hardly the Kodak moment of a Mary and Jesus Christmas sitting around their Christmas tree in their cozy pajamas opening up beautifully wrapped gifts with wide smiles and the smell of warm eggnog and roasting chestnuts wafting through the air.  But the real Christmas family was… real.  Ups and downs for families at Christmas are just par for the course.

Remember that when it seems more a hassle than it’s worth to get together for Christmas. Put away the family grudges in this time of peace on earth, goodwill toward men.  Don’t worry so much of getting or giving the perfect gift.  God took care of that part in the gift of His Son.  If the decorations don’t all get up this year, so be it.  I think the neighbors will get over it.  And don’t worry if all the Christmas cards get out.  In fact, let me take care of ours right now: “Mary Christmas everyone.”