Fr. Tom Hewitt concludes his reflections for Advent and Christmas.

Each evening before supper, our small community in St. Albans tries to gather for prayer. Last Tuesday our routine was shattered by a baby! He came to join us when his mother brought him in through the public door of our house chapel. Misha engaged wholeheartedly in our devotions, showing a strong literal desire to devour God’s word (Cf. Ezk 3: 1-3)!

Jerry Daley said insightfully, ‘We have sanitised Christmas’. For a few moments I couldn’t understand what he meant, but I soon recognized the obvious link between Misha and Christmas. Nothing is messier than a baby: babies don’t wait until everything is perfect before making their entrance, and when they arrive we can forget about our careful schedules. God chose to join us as a baby. He wanted to share completely in all the messiness of human life - and even, I dare say, to add to it!  

Let’s not sanitise the Christmas story. If we read Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts carefully we find confusion, anxiety, fear, and, even before the crucifixion, violence. The baby arrived in our troubled world in those chaotic circumstances. As we celebrate his birthday, the same things are happening - in the wide world, and maybe in our inner world. God did not choose to create or to embrace an ideal universe. It’s the real me and the real you that he loves: not the me and you we feel we ought to be.