‘go now to Bethlehem’

Christmas is often described as a ‘magical’ season: festive gatherings, songs and movies, the excitement on little faces on Christmas morning, the traditions we carry with us from childhood –all of these evoke strong emotions. But there’s something that transcends all of this, and that is the familiar story of the shepherds.

Some 2,000-plus years later, our own daily routines are put on pause by the arrival of Christmas and this ‘good news of great joy’ (Luke 2:10). Like the shepherds, we are invited to step out of our everyday life with its challenges and worries, and ‘go now to Bethlehem’; to meet the child Jesus in the manger in all his newness and human vulnerability. We live in a world that can feel increasingly uncertain, dark and frightening. We cannot escape the daily news of war, famine, mass shootings, hateful attacks on minorities, worrying news about our climate and our planet. It is important to be engaged, but the barrage of bad news can leave us feeling anxious about the future and about the security of ourselves and our loved ones. This Christmas Day, we have an opportunity, like the shepherds, to step out of our routine and visit the Christmas crib. This scene still has the power to move and amaze us. We bring our worries and anxieties, and perhaps we can leave them there awhile as, like Mary, we reflect deeply and treasure this mystery of God with us. The world will still be there to return to, as it was for the shepherds, with a new perspective and renewed hope.

Excerpted from The Deep End: A Journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Mark by Tríona Doherty and Jane Mellett