The Reality of the Christmas Nativity

The picture above is similar to many that we’ve all seen of the Nativity scene. Drive through town and you will find these beautiful Nativity scenes set up here and there in tribute and honor of our Lord's birth. Most churches have one in them at Christmas time, as do many houses. It’s a nice scene… but the only problem is... it just was not like that.

Let’s face some facts: Barns stink. Mangers are dirty and unsanitary. And the reality is that the scene the night of Jesus’ birth was real, including all the sights, sounds and smells… but it was not a nativity scene if you know what I mean.
It would have smelt of manure, urine, blood, and straw.
The air would have been full of dust and chaff.
Without saying more -- have you ever witnessed a birth?
I have, and while it is miraculous, to say the least, I can assure you it was not the nice tidy scene we so often see portrayed.

There were no backlights or halos, no swirling angels singing with harps. The barn held pain, darkness, and confusion.
When we scrub the manger scene down with Lysol, place floodlights on the participants, make them lily-white, comb their hair, and surround them with stars and adoring shepherds and animals we make Christianity more like a Nordic myth and rob it of its true power. You see, in all that dirt, pain, blood and dust was the Son of God, Emmanuel, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And that means that our messy lives can still host that same King. . .

There used to be some pagan holidays that have some aspects in common with our celebration. But it doesn't belong to the pagans anymore. It's ours.
We took it for Jesus and we're not giving it back.
We did the same thing to tombstones, wearing white at weddings, wedding rings, the names of the days of the week and a hundred other things.
They used to be pagan but they are ours now.
Because what happened at that first Christmas changed everything, forever.