Tag: Jesus

Nutcracker ballet and Christmas Eve traditions

I hadn’t been to ballet in months. After an absence, coming back to ballet was a welcome return in this season of Christmas traditions.

Back to ballet

I went back to ballet class for the first time in three months. I had been intending to go back much earlier, but every time class time rolled around I was either in the middle of something else or just didn’t feel like going. I knew I should go. I also knew I would enjoy it once I did go. I just couldn’t bring myself to go back.

The Nutcracker

This is a big season in the ballet world. The poster with the Nutcracker Prince advertises upcoming performances. The Nutcracker ballet is the one ballet people tend to go to even if they don’t attend ballet shows year round.

Christmas is the season for special attendance.

The Nativity story

The nativity story is another seasonal occurrence. One that brings many people inside the church for the first time all year.

What is it about this season that draws us back in?

Coming back

Once I arrived at ballet, everything started to come back. Sure some of it was a bit clunky, or rather I was moving a bit clumsily, but I was so glad to be there. Once in the swing of the steps, I realized how much I had missed it and how much I was enjoying this class, these ballet moves in this moment.

Are you thinking about attending a Christmas Eve service?

Or coming back to the story of the birth of Jesus with the shepherds and the angels?

Welcome back. ‘Tis the season for returning.

The Christmas story and the missing manger part 2

In the last post we saw no sign of the manger, but we did discover the wise men and what Jesus did in ministry. Like the wise men, we are searching for the Christ Child in the manger. Let’s see what the other two Gospels contain.

The Gospel of Luke

Birth stories

Let’s look at the Gospel of Luke. The first chapter is filled with baby stories. Here we read early childhood stories of John the Baptist and Jesus, even stories from before they were born.

Mary

In Luke we hear from Mary, the mother of Jesus. In Matthew we heard about Joseph.

Joseph and Mary

Check out chapter two. Do you see Joseph and Mary arriving in Bethlehem?

We’ve found the manger!

Keep reading. Look who else is arriving.

The shepherds and the angels.

We’ve located the rest of them in Luke.

The manger

So how do we remember that the manger is in Luke’s gospel?

Well, when I was a kid, every year we would watch a Christmas Special. Near the end of the special, a boy with a blanket would walk onto the stage of a Christmas Pageant and tell the story of the birth of Jesus, the nativity story.

You might have seen it too.

The story told by Linus is in Luke.

The Gospel of John

If we’ve found the manger in Luke, do we need to keep looking?

Yes. We’ve come this far. Join me as we glance at the Gospel of John.

In the beginning was the Word

The first chapter of John starts very differently from the rest of the Gospels. When I first started reading the Bible, John’s gospel was confusing to me. I didn’t understand what he meant by the Word. I liked the words “life” and “light” but the rest didn’t make much sense to me.

John the Baptist

The first name we see is John. John the Baptist, not John, the author of the book or Gospel of John. Jesus doesn’t arrive in chapter one until John’s testimony. Or does He?

Jesus

Did you notice verse 14?

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” John 1:14a NIV

That’s Jesus. Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the light.

We may have located the manger in Luke, but here we see the gift revealed. Jesus come to earth in the flesh to dwell among us.

John’s gospel reveals the gift. John reveals Jesus.

The Christmas story and the missing manger part 1

Where’s the manger?

Ever wonder where the Christmas story manger scene is in the Bible? You know, the story with the shepherds and the angels. I heard it read so many times as a child, but when I started reading out of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, I couldn’t always find it.

When I read through the Bible with some friends and we reached the Gospels, those first four books of the New Testament, I made some observations that have helped me remember how they each start and where to find the nativity story with Jesus in the manger.

The Gospel of Matthew

Genealogy

Matthew’s gospel starts with a list of names that many people skip. Just FYI, that’s the genealogy of Jesus. Those names may mean nothing to you now, but if you stick with it, you might just be surprised at how many names you do recognize. That’s what happened for us.

Joseph

Just after the list, Joseph arrives on the scene. We hear about the coming Messiah, but we don’t find the Christmas story here. We’ll move on for now, after all, we’re in search of the nativity story. Don’t worry, we’ll come back to Matthew’s gospel in more detail in another post. Although we don’t find the manger here, we do find some treasure besides the gifts that were brought for the Christ Child.

Wise men

Speaking of searching, did you notice the wise men searching for the Christ Child? Some translations refer to them as Magi. Many of us grew up hearing about the three kings mentioned in the hymn, present in the Christmas pageant, and gathered around the nativity set. Although they show up in many places around Christmas time, they are only found in one gospel, the Gospel of Matthew.

My method to memorize utilizes Magi. Matthew’s gospel mentions the Magi.

The Gospel of Mark

Messenger

Moving on to Mark, we first hear about a messenger, John the Baptist.

Good information, but where’s the manger?

The first real mention of Jesus is of him in the middle of ministry.

Where are the wise men? Where are the shepherds? What about the angels?

Ministry

Mark’s gospel, full of many stories of Jesus, begins with a messenger, then moves quickly to Jesus in ministry. This is a wonderful gospel to learn about what Jesus did, but with no manger here, we’ll keep moving.

What to memorize? Mark’s gospel moves from messenger to ministry.

Two more Gospels to go. We’ll take a look at Luke and John in the next post.

Coping in the darkness – a guiding light

Ask my husband how the ride through the tunnel was and you will get a very different response from mine. He knew some of the history of the railroad. He noticed the markers inside the tunnel that gave clues as to how far we’d traveled or how much was left. He really enjoyed the ride through it.

I was merely focused on not falling.

His start was filled with anticipation. Mine was filled with anxiety.

Grateful for a guide

I was grateful that he rode ahead of me so I had a notion of where I was going. Farther down the trail I realized the light on my bike was pretty dim. Much of the light that guided me through the tunnel came from my husband’s bike light and that of the other riders, even the ones headed in the opposite direction.

The tunnel is 1.661 miles long and not in a straight line. There is no visible “light at the end of the tunnel” for the majority of the ride through it. I was very much “in the dark” on this journey. And it felt that way.

Making room

While trying to stay upright and going much slower than the other riders, they would pass me. Each time a bike neared, its rider would call out, “Left!” That was the signal to move over and make room for someone to sail past, but that meant scooting closer to the dreaded gutter and riding on the slanted portion of the trail. I didn’t know at the time that the path slanted in that section. I just knew peddling and steering on that part challenged me more than in the middle.

I struggled to take in the sights and enjoy this stretch of the ride because I was so focused on not crashing into the gutters or another rider.

Foxhole prayers

At one point I started to hum to distract myself. I’m sure I also started to pray. You know, one of those foxhole prayers in the moment of deep distress and need. Praying and humming was calming. When I’m not struggling to stay upright on a bike, I write worship songs and play the violin with a worship team, often creating a violin part during the service. So I drew on these skills that were comforting and familiar, and made up a melody to draw me into a place of comfort and peace.

Connecting to Jesus

This praying and music making connected me to Jesus. I no longer focused on what was worrisome, but instead on that which brought peace and calm.

I know it’s early to talk about Christmas, but it’s like when we hear the beginning of a favorite Christmas carol. It can transport us to a memory or a feeling that brings comfort and joy. A place or sense that all is calm. That’s what praying and humming did for me.

Do I remember the prayer I prayed? No, though it was probably along the lines of, “Jesus, please keep me upright on this bike and help me make it through this tunnel.” I’m guessing my prayer was even shorter as that probably would have taken too much concentration. More like short bursts of hope to grasp onto. A simple, “Jesus, help,” (which I just noticed is the first word of each of those phrases).

So whether or not you’ve prayed before, I invite you to give it a try. Take a moment and just say, “Jesus, help,” and maybe you, too, will find a place where all is calm.