Our traditions have given us the idea that the birth of Jesus happened in this strangely idyllic time and place, with a beautiful night of silent reverence for the child, in a place that was peaceful (at least until the welcoming committee showed up). All is calm, all is bright, and that the baby was laid in a manger, and no crying he made.

But the reality of the birth was a poor family, denied a place to experience what should have been a blessed moment, but was instead fraught with even more danger than a first century woman normally faced in childbirth: in an unsanitary, dirty, noisy place, amongst the animals and the normal results of feeding and watering livestock.

There was nothing peaceful, or beautiful, about that place. 

And yet, that is where Christ was born into the world. And that tells us something about the nature of God: that God broke into our world in the worst possible place, the least privileged, the least significant possible place… that God came to be among those who are lost and afraid; those who are uncertain and even unsafe. That it is for them (for us) that God broke into the world.

Come and join us as we explore the story behind the story.