Baby + Manger + Clothes = A Sign?

“Unto you this night is born, in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. This will be the sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:11-12)

I presume for most of us…perhaps all…this is a familiar verse. It certainly is for me. From my earliest days I remember this verse about the birth of Jesus if I remembered no other. In any Christmas special with any Bible or church related scene…if they even drive past a church…this verse is ubiquitous. Angels in the sky…terrified shepherds…Jesus’ birth announced…in nothing short of spectacular fashion. 

What got me thinking about this verse was, as I often do this time of year, reading the Gospel account and there it was… ”This will be the sign…”

What comes to your thoughts when you think of a sign? 

In my upbringing a “sign from Father” meant certain things. Awe-inspiring things…Power-filled things…Miracles…Wonders...Something dynamic…Thunders…Lightenings…Knocking us from our donkey…blinding us…changing us…Red-Sea-parting…SIGNS!!

Yet here we read something counter-intuitive to everything we think a sign should be… ”This will be the sign…a baby…in swaddling clothes..in a manger.” And not just any sign but this is the sign of “Emanuel…God with us!!” (Mt. 1:23)

Really Father…really? You couldn’t come up with a more impressive sign than this?!?

There were several other things that to my way of thinking…perhaps yours…would have served as much better (read “more impressive”) signs. Wise men from foreign lands appearing after at two-year “star-trek,” Joseph's angel-message-dream, the divine pronouncement of Elizabeth to Mary, Archangel Michael appearing to Mary - my personal favorite :), angelic celestial declarations, even…but…A baby? Really Father…are You kidding? 

And yet…perhaps more clearly than any other could, this sign speaks to us how, where and why He is God with us. 

“You will find a baby…” (How He is God with us.)

What comes to mind when you think of a baby? 

While it’s a big deal to parents, family and friends, the fact is…babies are rather commonplace… uneventful. They’re just not that “unusual.” But in His premier appearing on earth as “God with us” God chooses to come as a baby. 

Yes, He had appeared before…the holy of holies, Moses and the burning bush, and such…but those were all God “there.” This baby is God “with.”

Babies are so “ordinary!” And that’s the thing…How many times are we looking for angel-in-the-sky answers and miss Father’s baby-in-a-manger appearance?

We so often want Father to show up in some attention getting, neon-light flashing manner yet “God with us” is God with us in the ordinariness of everyday.

”In a manger” (Where He is God with us.)

So…what’s a manger got to do with God with us?

Why is the manger so important as to be part of “the” sign?

I wasn’t raised on a farm but had family members who were so, as a kid, I got to spend some time around farm animals and feeding troughs or mangers. Here’s what I know about them…

• Mangers are for livestock…not babies.
• Mangers are dirty…Not just dirty…Nasty-dirty. 
• They’re not cozy baby cribs…they are cold. 
• They’re not soft…they are hard…today, usually metal. For Jesus wood or stone.
• They’re not inviting…they can be dark, almost foreboding.
• They smell…no…they stink! Animals drool in them…among other things.

But, mangers are also where shepherds, in one sense, gain their livelihood…where life is lived. 

Mangers are our lives in this world…on Monday morning and Sunday evening…when we hit that goal or fall flat…when we get the promotion or the business closes…Mangers are where God with us is God with us. 

Notice He’s IN the manger…”

• Not standing beside…afraid to be dirtied by its touch;
• Not looking at it…in detached curiosity;
• Not studying it…from a safe distance…

but IN it. In the dirty…cold…hard…dark…smelliness of life and livelihood God is God with us. 

”In swaddling clothes.” (Why He is God with us.)

Swaddling clothes were simply baby clothes of that day and culture. The obvious question is, of course, what do baby clothes have do do with God with us?

To answer that please allow a brief history lesson.

When a baby of that day was born, instead of allowing the baby free use of its limbs, which it could not easily control or with which it could grab something dangerous, the baby was wrapped head to toe with bands of cloth five to six inches wide and five to six yards long. This process protected the baby making it appear much as one might picture a small mummy. 

Here’s the thing…the omission of such clothing would indicate that the child had been abandoned.

God with us in swaddling clothes means He chooses to be a part of us and make us part of Him…We are family…He will not, because He cannot, leave or forsake us…ever. 

The moment Mary placed Jesus in that manger and the shepherds saw and glorified Father the messy, smelly, dirty, cold, dark, mundane mangers of our life became altars of honor and worship. So that, in the manger of our lives God with us establishes His Holy of Holies in us. 

In doing so, the power, majesty, mystery, and glory of God with us comes right where we are and changes everything because when God with us enters…nothing can stay the same. 

"This shall be the sign to you…a baby…in a manger…in swaddling clothes…God with us."

Quite a sign indeed. 

Father, thank You for Your wonderful sign…Jesus, Emanuel, God with us. Help me now…give me ears to hear, eyes to see and a heart to perceive everyday, everywhere You with me. 

In Jesus’ Name. Amen. 

Have a blessed Christmas,

Michael M

Please respond to MannMuses@aol.com

PS…If you have a moment, take a moment on this busy day…

Enjoy this song… http://youtu.be/Gy29mQfiavg 
And think about
Jesus…Emanuel…God with us

They Are Veterans

They Are Veterans 

Michael Mann
Veterans  Day, 2014

There will be a few parades on TV...if at all;

Some banks, offices and schools will close...but no stores;

Any concerts, special events or ceremonies held...will go largely unnoticed;

Most people, in fact, will pass this day without note;

And that's probably how they would want it...

They are Veterans

They served and serve mostly without notice, notoriety or celebrity 

but with honor and dignity...

They are Veterans

Most never saw or see themselves as heroes or especially courageous...

They are Veterans

Most don't believe they did "anything special" 

but simply the job they willing agreed to do...

They are Veterans

They are or were sons and daughters, 

aunts and uncles, 

brothers and sisters, 

husbands and wives, 

moms and dads; 

friends, neighbors and associates...

They are Veterans

We see them everyday in restaurants and shops, 

offices and factories, 

stores and classrooms, 

churches and theaters 

still quietly contributing to make this the best place on earth...

They are Veterans

Their "day" is not considered a "major holiday" 

yet of all Americans it should be...

They are Veterans

It is their honor, courage and dignity; 

unsung heroics and unseen actions; 

faithful and tireless service - 

sometimes in the face of an unappreciative citizenry and 

without thought of why, politics or agenda - 

that have protected our liberty "from all enemies foreign and domestic," and 

purchased even with their blood and lives the freedom we so often take for granted...

THEY ARE VETERANS!

Although they never ask for or expect it...

Thank you to them all...

They are Veterans

On Being Depressed or In Depression

I was recently sent an article by one of my sons and ask my opinion. (LInked here: http://christianity.about.com/od/whatdoesthebiblesay/a/Bible-Depression.htm)

The article so disturbed me within the first section that I am compelled to post this. (I would have replied directly to the author but could not find a response address.) 

For any who may have seen, read or referenced this article, or anything similar, I will simply ask...Don't...Please, please don't! 

As someone trained in CISM, suicide intervention and crisis intervention, and whose second major in college was psychology (counselling emphasis) this article, in my view does an injustice to the subject of depression and those suffering it on a number of levels. 

First, it nowhere...not once...defines depression or its multiple root causes. Depression, in my view, generally comes from 3 root causes: physical or mental circumstantial stress that tends to be chronic; chemical or hormonal imbalance or other physical causes within the body; and/or, spiritual oppression. There are likely causes I'm forgetting but the point is, without a definition, explanation or description everything becomes depression and it is not.

    

Second, the result of the first is every possible depressed reference in scripture is lumped in as "full-blown depression" and there is a huge...separate universe...difference between being "in depression" and being depressed. 

Yes, someone "in depression" is depressed but NOT EVERYONE WHO'S DEPRESSED IS "IN DEPRESSION." Each of us gets depressed from time to time...it is the result of life in a fallen world. "Bad day"..."in a funk"...call it what you may, but being depressed is NOT being in depression. Listing "sad," "mourning" and "discouragement" with no explanation or further description is a disservice and borders on injustice, in my view. 

Mourning?? Someone died...it is loss of unimaginable ache...but mourning and grief are NOT depression! They are the God-designed, God-ordained responses to loss. Following the implications of the article in saying that mourning is depression leads us to the inescapable conclusion that on some level God has ordained us to be in depression...Do we really want to go there??? 

Being depressed is a temporary, normal response to circumstances and situations that, in my view, God never intended we experience but do because of The Fall. Depression, however, is chronic and unrelenting...day after day...week after week...and requires proper intervention. 

Third, although the article states accurately that God isn't angry at those in depression, by lumping everyone who is depressed with those in depression it demeans the magnitude of those struggling with depression in that, without saying it, it communicates, "If they (someone depressed) got through it so can you." As such, those receiving, or worse, those not receiving but needing, treatment are reduced to "second class, what's-wrong-with-you" Christians. 

Finally, (at least for here), while the article says (again accurately) God is our hope in depression, it still sends both a hopeless message and a message of false hope...unintended I'm sure...but hopeless and false hope none the less. 

By implying someone who is depressed but not in depression is "in depression" it creates an issue where none likely exists that could cause a crisis of faith and a "what's the use of trying?" spirit/attitude in someone. (Should I go so far as to say, it could create a more permanent depression in someone because they are temporarily depressed?) The flip side is, by lumping those who are actually in depression with those who are temporarily depressed it can give the false hope of "I'll get over it" without the needed intervention whatever that intervention may be - healing, deliverance or treatment of some sort. 

So please...as a man who deals regularly with people mourn, grieve and who are depressed but coping...don't do this to people. 

My thoughts...A MannMuse

Blessings

Michael M

reply to mannmuses@aol.com

PS...If anyone feels they are experiencing actual depression please go to http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml and read the signs/sypmtoms. If they fit, talk to someone...find an experienced trained counsellor...get help.