My Epiphany

This is what Kristen looked like as we arrived back home from the Christmas Eve service at church. Yes, she is wearing Eric's shirt. No, that's not what she was wearing when we left home for church. In fact, this isn't even the first piece of Eric's clothing that she has worn tonight (she had on his jacket before this). And yes, that is an unexpected revisit of the day's lunch in the center of the shirt she's wearing - and it wasn't the first explosion, it was actually the third.

This is not what I had intended for my Christmas Eve to be. I was looking forward to the tradition of meeting my family at church for the service, and there were some good friends of ours involved with the music and message of the evening. I was excited about being able to refocus my attention on the true meaning of this busy time of year. Remembering God's sacrifice in sending Jesus to live among us humans, virtually trapped in the craziness of human flesh.

And then - Kristen got sick. All over the place, in a big way, right as we were pulling into a parking place in the church parking lot. Luckily my parents pulled in at the same time as us, and my dad had keys to the bus garage on the church property, so we hopped in there, out of the cold, and cleaned off everything we could. Kristen's clothes - unsalvageable. Car seat - covered as best as we could in shop-rag towels from the bus garage. Eric and Jaimee's clothes - not too horrible (maybe we can sneak up into the balcony and no one will know). So we hauled Kristen - wearing Eric's jacket - into the church balcony and settled in to enjoy the music and the candlelight service.

Three songs later, round two. Luckily most of the mess was concentrated in Eric's jacket that she was wearing. So this time we draped her in Eric's shirt and decided we should probably go home.

Dang it!

Why couldn't this have happened once we got back home? Why did it have to interrupt my plans to enjoy the candlelight service? To sing along with the beautiful hymns of the season? How inconvenient.

EPIPHANY!!!!

Everything about Jesus coming to earth was inconvenient.

• Inconvenient for Jesus: He made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (Phil. 2:7) He humbled himself!
  
• Inconvenient for Mary and Joseph: Before they came together, Mary was found to be with child. Because Joseph was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. (Matt. 1:18-19) They had their whole lives ahead of them, and then something like this happens.
• Inconvenient for the religious leaders of the day: "While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?' On hearing this, Jesus said 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.'" (Matt. 9:10-12) The religious leaders were looking for someone who was more regal, more 'religious', more like them.

Being a parent definitely is a learning experience. But in this case, I'm not sure how much more appropriate the lesson could have been. I'm sure Jesus threw up all over Mary and Joseph. And I bet he did it more than once. And I wouldn't be surprised if it happened while Mary and Joseph had something else to do that they thought was more important. Jesus was human - God made flesh - and he came as a baby. Helpless. Crying. Pooping in his swaddling clothes.

And somewhere in all the mess tonight - in the four pairs of pajamas, two pillows, bed sheets, stuffed animals, blankets, car seat cover, and adult clothes that went into the several loads of laundry I've done tonight - I got the message. I remembered what this is all about. What Christmas is all about. What life is all about.

Epiphany.