Starlight in a midwinter sky

Latitude: 31° 42', North. Longitude: 35° 12', East ... Bethlehem

Latitude: 34°North, Longitude: 118° West . . . . Los Angeles

Imagine this: Long nights where life is sunshine oriented; sudden cold in a desert that doesn’t usually get cold; way too much to do to get ready for a season of travel; and not enough money to make any of it any easier.

Kind of depressing, isn't it? Sounds a little like the weeks a lot of us are living through right now.

But imagine the whole thing with no electricity – no city lights, no holiday trees or decorations, no cause for cheer. Just the deep, dark bleak midwinter.

And suddenly, for no apparent reason, a huge bright light in the nighttime sky. What, oh what, could this mean? An omen for yet another disaster? More dead? More unemployed? Imagine the sheer terror of this pervasive uncontrollable thing that no one could really understand. . . .

A brave few believed the angels they thought they heard, telling them the light was a star of hope. And they ventured on their way to find a baby boy – nothing but a little baby. No proof this child could or would do a thing for them . . . . just faith in the voices they thought they heard and the sights they thought they saw.

And these faithful brought gifts – their music, bits of their spices, their love. And look at how well things turned out, for them and for us.

As we share our music, our spices, and our love in these short, dark, and dreary days, let’s relish every minute of the party we are invited to share now and throughout the year to come. No cold, no rain can dampen the joy of the gift we are all given with the birth of this Baby Boy.

Party hardy and wonder at the abiding warmth!