Day 5: This Manger in Which We Meet

Mary has her role;
That's clear and obvious enough.

But Joseph,

Joseph of Nazareth,

Joseph the husband of Mary,

Joseph who stood at the manger—

the role of Joseph at the birth of the Messiah

seems to be hardly there at all,

So far as we can tell from the biblical record,
Joseph stands there,

Simply stands there.

There must have been
a kind of agony to being there,

a veritable torment to just standing there,

able to do nothing, say nothing that might help;

to stand and wonder what all this could mean

and fear at what might very well lie ahead

for his beloved Mary and this child

who was not even his...

to have to stand and simply be there.

The hardest task
The most difficult role of all
That of just being there
And Joseph, dearest Joseph, stands for that.
Don’t you see?

It is important,
crucially important,
that he stand there by that manger,
as he does,
In all his silent misery
Of doubt concern and fear.
If Joseph were not there
There might be no place for us,
For those of us at who recognize and know-
That heartache, for our own,
That helpless sense
Of lostness, of impotence
In our own lives, our families, our jobs
In our fearful threatened world this night.
Yes, in Joseph’s look of anguish
We find our place;
We discover that we too
Belong beside the manger:
This manger in which are met
God’s peace and all our wars and fears.

And so we come,

into the stable;

a little breathless, to be sure,

a bit preoccupied with that last task,

but we gather, just the same,

to rest our tired feet, to sing beloved songs,

to hearken to ancient words that speak to us

of light in darkness,

hope beyond all fears.

“O come, let us adore him.” says the carol.

Not “let us serve him,” you will notice;

nor, “let us work for, strive for,

live for, die for him.”

All that may come in its own good time-

God’s own good time.

But for now at least,

Let us be there,

simply be there just as Joseph was,

with nothing we can do now,

nothing we can bring—

it’s far too late for that—

nothing even to be said

except, “Behold—be blessed,

be silent, be at peace.”

----excerpt from a poem by J. Barrie Shepherd.

 

Today, spend some time in silence with God. 

 

(if this is difficult, try a breath prayer using Isaiah 30:15)

Close your eyes. Take deep breaths.
With each inhale, silently pray to God: "You are my strength."
...And with each exhale silently pray: "In quiet and rest."

---

We spend time with family around holidays and we need to remember to spend time with God , too. The Christmas season is very busy, but the angel came to Joseph saying, “peace!”  Try to sit still and quiet for a few minutes. Imagine yourself standing in front of God and saying ‘wow!’ at how awesome God is...
Try the above breath prayer.