advent resources 4

the walk of the magi is pretty much an entire service from the phaith of st phransus

talking of magi, maggi as ever has a ton of stuff on advent

rejesus christmas section is ever expanding

advent waiting via ben askew gives a sobering global moment of waiting in prayer

christmas prayer via eden is a simple but poignant prayer

and last year in daily bread i wrote a series of 12 daily reflections on luke 1-3 that you might be interested in. my favourite was the one that was for christmas day where i suggest (entirely inspired by the work of ken bailey) that maybe there was no inn and no stable:

It’s possible that there was no inn and no stable in the Christmas
story! It’s unthinkable in the Middle East that Joseph, returning to
his family village (vs 3,4), would not have gone to relatives who would
have provided hospitality for him and his pregnant wife. A peasant home
in those days would have had a guest room, and then one main room,
which was both the sleeping and lounge area. At night the animal(s)
would be brought into this room in a lowered area at one end to keep
them safe. It seems likely that the guest room is already occupied (the
word translated as ‘inn’ in verse 7 can mean guest room), so Joseph and
Mary are staying in the main room of a relative’s home; when Jesus is
born, he is laid in the manger that would have been there for the
animals at night. Probably the women relatives are all there helping
with the birth, while the men are at a neighbour’s house! Our cultural
assumptions have led to a very different interpretation of what
actually happened. The significance of this is profound – Jesus was
born in a poor village community in a very ordinary way among family
and friends. His birth is no different to theirs – his incarnation is
authentic.

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