Scrooge and the Grinch have always been part of the story.

I told you I had no plan and now it’s December 20^th and we haven’t yet seen any shepherds, stars or magi. Goodness, we’re still in Nazareth. So, in case you didn’t know or had forgotten, Mary and Joseph did manage to work things out and get married, and they were away in Bethlehem when the baby came. They were temporarily homeless, living under a bridge, and Jesus was born in a dumpster, and his first cradle was an old shopping cart. Well, not actually, but you get the idea. God will go to any length to be close to the poor.

When the king heard that this little wonder-child had been born (Matthew 2), he got nervous. To be fair, considering some of the things Mary had been thinking and even saying recently (Luke 1:52 in my last posting) he had every reason to be nervous. But, instead of trying to work something out, he just sent soldiers to kill Jesus. Jesus got away, but the soldiers killed a lot of innocent kids. Kings often do this sort of thing, and that king did it more than most.

Have you’ve ever wondered why Christmas is never quite as grand or good as it should be; why there’s always someone or something messing it up? Personally, I think it’s just that there’s something in the world, in people like Herod, even in you and me, that fears what’s good. And when something really good comes along it’s almost like the world, the rulers, and even you and I are allergic to it. It seems like a foreign, alien thing, and something in us tries to expel it. Some people don’t seem to have much of this reaction, children for example, but most of us, by the time we’re grown up, have been fooled so often by bad things that pretend to be good, we just can’t trust the real thing.

Well, whatever the problem, it’s been there from the beginning. I’m not sure how I got past resisting this thing myself, but somehow I did. I’m not sure how anyone else can get past it, but somehow they must. It’s just too good to miss. I wrote a poem about it a few years ago and here it is, a little Christmas gift, an invitation for you.

Merry Christmas!!!

The Invitation - Dan Colborne

'Twas the night before Christmas, a long time ago,
And they didn't have sleigh bells, they didn't have snow.
No stockings were hung by the old chimney flue;
'Twas the night before Christmas, but nobody knew.
Not a carol was sung, not a wreath on a door,
'Cause no one had ever had Christmas before.
No children lay dreaming of sweet sugarplums
That night before Christmas, the very first one;
Not a sign of a special event, not a trace,
But a wonderful birth was about to take place.

Now, shepherds were watching their sheep, right close by,
While, far away, Wise Men were watching the sky,
When angels appeared to the shepherds to sing
Of a Bethlehem stable, a manger, a king.
And a star seemed to say to the Wise Men somehow,
That a new king had been born in Israel just now.
So they stopped watching sheep, and stopped searching the skies,
And they hurried to join in this birthday surprise.

The shepherds told everyone that they had seen,
Angels and angels, and how they had been
Invited to come to a stable in town,
To worship a baby, pay homage, bow down.
They said, "He's a king!", but some replied, "Is he?"
Some came to the party, but some were too busy.

And, there was a king in that country already,
And he liked his job, and he wanted it steady.
And so, when the Wise Men came by with the news,
King Herod came down with a case of the blues.
See, he was the kind of a person who'll come
To a party, but only to spoil the fun.
And he came to the party; it ended in tears.
But the story’s continued through two thousand years.

Till, strange as it seems, each year, in December,
The whole world takes time out to stop and remember,
That Christmas that happened so long, long ago,
In a land without Christmas trees, stockings or snow.
And we think of that child who was born in that stable,
With never the sound of a carol or sleigh bell.
And all are invited today, as before,
To come to the stable, to worship, adore.

But some are too busy, and some are too clever,
Some plan to come later, some plan to come never.
And some are afraid for the throne they hold onto,
And others, for no reason, simply don't want to.
Some come to the stable, but will not adore him.
The birthday boy's here, and they choose to ignore him.

But, wise men and women don't miss it or fear it,
They recognize good news the moment they hear it.
They're quick to respond, be they shepherds or kings,
And they fly to the stable as though they had wings.
And children delight in a birthday surprise,
For practically all little children are wise.
They abandon their hearts to rejoicing with ease,
And they come as if born on the wings of the breeze.
But this invitation is specially for you.
We’re off to a party! Please, won't you come too?

Dan Colborne

Copyright 1991