Day 5: Stay Out of Bethlehem

 

Day 5

This star drew nigh to the northwest,

O’er Bethlehem it took its rest;

And there it did both stop and stay

Right over the place where Jesus lay.

Her tea now as cold as Scrooge’s door knocker, Celia rose from her desk and headed to the kitchen, her cat Mistle hot on her heels. Mistle, or Mistletoe, a black cat with white paws, really belonged to Merry, a sixteenth-birthday gift from Joe. Joe had never let Merry’s birthday get lost in the holiday rush. Racing Celia down the stairs, Mistle stopped hopefully before her empty bowl. Her purrs filled the silence of the kitchen as she curled around Celia’s feet waiting for her to open a fresh pouch of kitty food. 

Celia crossed the kitchen to the radio planning to catch up on the latest news. She flipped it on but then immediately tuned to another station. The news today was just too much for her. Soft holiday tunes echoed in the empty kitchen. Celia sang along as she worked up the energy to fix herself some dinner. Hark the Herald Angels Sing, The First Noel, Silent Night, all recalling that sacred night in Bethlehem. Each carol a story.  

Celia sorted through the mail on the kitchen table. Her eyes wandered over the three empty chairs across from her perch. Merry’s and Hurry’s (a nickname which fit her son Harry exactly) faced each other at the sides. Joe’s empty chair stared back at her. 

Having finished her food, Mistle hopped into Celia’s lap, kneaded to soften it, and settled down for a nap. Looking down at the sleeping cat, Celia noted that her stomach did not need extra kneading these days. Merry was right about healthy eating and exercise. Absently, Celia stroked her pet as her mind drifted back to a Christmas long ago.

Advent Challenge: What is your favorite Christmas Carol? What stories are told? Do some research about its history and composer. Does the melody lift your spirit or bring you peace? Do the lyrics give you hope or make you feel reverent? During the Advent season, think about each carol you hear. What story does each tell? How do the stories of the carols fit into the story of your life?

Prayer: The first Noel the angel did say was to certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay keeping their sheep, on a cold winter’s night that was so deep. Dear Lord, as every carol tells a story of Christmas, may our lives tell the story of your love. Noel, Noel, Noel! Noel!  Amen

Day 4: Stay Out of Bethlehem

 Day 4

Ding dong merrily on high,

In heav'n the bells are ringing:

Ding dong! verily the sky

Is riv'n with angels singing

Ding! Celia’s cell phone offered a reprieve from her task. Merry’s face shone out from the phone. She had been texting Celia twice a day lately, now that she was alone. 

“All ready for our hike tomorrow?” Merry was determined to keep Celia cheerful with outdoor exercise, healthy food, and engaging projects. So far, they had taken yoga and painting classes together, biked along the boardwalk at the beach, and shopped at every organic food shop in the county. Merry had even gotten them a farm share for fresh vegetables last summer. The fun they had coming up with recipes for mountains of eggplant, tubs of purple potatoes, or bushels of kale! The zucchini and tomato harvest had almost overwhelmed them. Cooking and sharing with friends and those in need gave them extra joy. 

Merry had been all for Celia writing “a short Christmas story to inspire the congregation at this festive time of the year,” as her pastor had put it. Short, she might be able to do, but inspiring? Sighing, Celia sent a happy face sticker back to Merry on her new smartphone, another of Merry’s suggestions — dragging her mother into the twenty-first century. Celia bristled just a little. A hike, a writing project, and a new phone weren’t much comfort, but if they brought more time with her daughter, she was happy. Just the sight of Merry lifted her spirits. 

Celia shut her laptop. Her brain was as foggy as Scrooge’s London. Dickens had used up all the good story ideas. Shaking her head to clear it, Celia muttered, “Humbug,” under her breath. Perhaps tomorrow’s early morning hike would be just the thing to inspire her Christmas story. 

Advent Challenge: When was the last time you checked on someone you love? Give a call, share a recipe, cook something wonderful and deliver it to a shut-in. Use your smartphone or your computer to video call. Lift someone’s spirit today with a smile.

Prayer: Gloria! Gloria! Hosanna in excelsis! Dear Lord, with the angels and bells, we praise you. Gloria! Hosanna in excelsis! Amen

Day 3: Stay Out of Bethlehem

 

Day 3

The cattle are lowing

The poor Baby wakes

But little Lord Jesus

No crying He makes

The stars in the bright sky

Looked down where He lay

The little Lord Jesus

Asleep on the hay

Celia glanced into the mirror now shimmering in the dying day. The mirror caught the light of the rising and setting sun daily though it did not face the window. Joe had anchored it there many years ago in the soon-to-be nursery. The mirror had caught the awe-filled looks on the expectant parents’ faces as they set up the waiting cradle. Later, the mirror reflected their panicked faces when the baby’s sleepy sighs turned into lusty howls. Over the years, the mirror had recorded the first steps of their baby girl, countless funny faces, a young lady stepping into her first high heels, and the again awe-filled faces of her parents as she twirled around in her graduation gown. Merry, a Christmas present, the light in her newborn eyes reflecting the lights on their Christmas tree, embodied her name still. 

Every child is a gift. Celia learned this lesson from her own children and from the children she taught. Each student was a gift waiting to be unwrapped. Gifts filled with energy, joy, curiosity, hope, anger, sorrow, trust, and love, each child yearning to share their lives with their teachers. Shy smiles, uncontrolled giggles, tears sliding down rosy cheeks, little hands waving in the air or slipping into hers — gifts Celia would always treasure.  

Celia’s memories faded into the shimmering glass as she pulled herself out of her memories. 

She turned to face the empty computer screen.

Advent Challenge: What gifts have children given you? Take a moment to remember and appreciate each child in your life. Choose one or two to contact. Send a small gift — some stickers, a riddle, a page to color, a card — with a note telling them how much you love and appreciate them. Give thanks for the gift of children.

Prayer: Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay close by me forever, and love me I pray.

Bless all the dear children In Thy tender care, and take us to heaven to live with thee there.  Amen

Day 2: Stay Out of Bethlehem

 

Day 2

Jesus our brother, kind and good

Was humbly born in a stable rude

And the friendly beasts around him stood

Jesus our brother, strong and good.

Stay out of Bethlehem. Celia’s tea cooled as she pondered her story options. What Christmas story had not been already written? There’s Scrooge, of course, the ghost of his story hung over many a holiday tale. Celia smiled at her unintended but apt pun. The Gift of the Magi, a story of misguided generosity. The Grinch stewing in his cold mountain cave, hating the Whos, hating Christmas itself. Children’s books covered everything from the North Pole to the mice under the tree. And the manger story! Every possible angle had been done — shepherds, angels, kings, midwife, innkeeper, innkeeper’s wife, cows, donkeys, doves, camels and on and on back to the mice again. There was no way Celia could find an original angle on the sacred story of the “origin of the day.” Maybe from the point of the hay?

Celia’s children had been full of stories — and questions. Did Jesus sleep in an animal’s feed trough? Didn’t he have a bed? Did he like the animals around him? Was he afraid of the cow (sheep, camel, dove). Did spiders live in the stable? What did they feed the donkey? Isn’t hay itchy? They were fascinated by the story of the miraculous birth in Bethlehem. A familiar story yet miraculous still.

No, Celia resolved; she must stay out of Bethlehem. 

Advent Challenge: Sometimes Bible stories become so familiar that we lose the wonder we felt the first time we heard them. Moses raised his rod and parted a sea! Jonah survived three days in the belly of the whale! Noah fit a pair of every animal on earth onto a boat! God loved us so well, that he sent his only Son to save us! Read the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem with the eyes of a child discovering it for the first time. Hear the cries of the baby and the sounds of the beasts standing around him. Bring your best gift to him — the gift of your heart. 

Prayer: Thus every beast by some good spell, in the stable dark was glad to tell, of the gift he gave Emmanuel, the gift he gave Emmanuel. Oh, Lord, accept the Advent gifts we bring, with full and fresh hearts, to lay before your son, Jesus, our brother, kind and good. Amen

Day 1 Stay Out of Bethlehem: An Advent Calendar Story

 

Day 1

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And death's dark shadows put to flight.

Celia sat with her head in her hands. She was never going to finish this project. It was late November and she hadn’t even begun. What dimwit suggested that she write a new story for the Christmas newsletter? Celia just wanted to skip Christmas this year. She lifted her head to glare at the reflection staring from the mirror on the back of her office door — a mirror her husband had so kindly attached at Celia's direction. Oh, yeah. It was the dejected-looking dimwit in the looking glass. Maybe she could step through and run off with the White Rabbit. No, he was always late too. A kindred spirit for a writer whose middle name was “procrastination.” 

Celia’s eyes wandered to the painting hanging over her desk. The Holy Family rested peacefully under a star-bright sky. Her husband had hung that for her too. Celia could use some of that heavenly peace right now — and a good idea for a story!

Sipping her tea and dangling a slipper from one toe, Celia looked over what she had written so far on her laptop. A Christmas story. Something about peace. Stay out of Bethlehem.

Advent Challenge: Is this Advent feeling less joyous than those of the past? Take a few minutes to reflect on your feelings. Now reflect on the coming of the Savior. Do your feelings shift from low to high when remembering the love of God whose son was born to save us? Can you now rejoice? 

Prayer: O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, and order all things, far and nigh; to us the path of knowledge show, and cause us in her ways to go. Rejoice, rejoice! Amen

Welcome to Stay Out of Bethlehem

 

Our story begins tomorrow!

Stay Out of Bethlehem

An Advent Calendar Story

Advent is a season of preparation, a season of hope, a season of rushing, a season of reflection, a season of caring, a season of giving, a season of joy, a season of sorrow. Each of us enters Advent as individuals. We arrive at the manger one at a time but leave together as people saved by the coming of the Savior in Bethlehem.

This Advent Calendar Story touches on many aspects of Advent. Each is framed by a Christmas Carol. Each contains a challenge and a prayer. 

Prepare yourself for the coming of Christ.

To find the lyrics or listen to the carol visit: hymnary.org or classicfm.com

Day	Carol	Tune or Composer	Lyrics
1	O Come, O Come, Emmanuel	Veni Emmanuel	Trans. Charles S. Cook
2	The Friendly Beasts	Orientis Partibus	Trans. Robert Davis
3	Away in a Manger	Kirkpatrick/Murray	Anonymous
4	Ding Dong Merrily on High	Branle de L’Officiel	George Ratcliffe Woodward
5	The First Noel	The First Nowell	Anonymous
6	Do You Hear What I Hear?	Gloria Shayne	Noel Regney
7	Love Came Down at Christmas	Garten	Christina Rossetti
8	Good Christian Friends, Rejoice!	In Dulce Jubilo	John Mason Neale
9	Carol of the Bells	Mykola Leontovych	Peter Wilhousky
10	Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow	Traditional	Traditional Spiritual
11	On Christmas Night All Christians Sing	Sussex Carol	Luke Wadding
12	It Came Upon a Midnight Clear	Traditional Carol (Willis)	Edmund H. Sears
13	Go, Tell It on the Mountain	Go Tell It	Adapted by John W. Work
14	Gentle Mary Laid Her Child	Tempus Adelt Floridum	Joseph Simpson Cook
15	The Coventry Carol	Coventry Carol	Robert Croo
16	As Joseph Was A-Walking	Gauntlett	Anonymous
17	Hark! The Herald Angels Sing	Mendelssohn	Charles Wesley
18	O Come, All Ye Faithful	Adeste Fideles	John Francis Wade
19	In The Bleak Midwinter	Cranham	Christina Rossetti
20	The Birthday of a King	Neidlinger	William Harold Neidlinger
21	Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne	Margaret	E.S. Elliot
22	O, Holy Night	Adolphe Adam	Placide Cappeau
23	There’s a Song in the Air	Karl P. Harrington	Josiah Holland
24	Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem	Lewis Redner	Phillip Brooks
25	Silent Night	Franz Gruber	Joseph Mohr

Standing Up

 

Standing Up

A heavily pregnant woman boarded a crowded bus. The seated passengers avoided eye contact. The woman grasped a handhold, but the bus didn’t move. The driver rose. “Here you are, lady,’ he said. ‘Have my seat. I won’t need it while you’re standing up.”

This story triggered a memory. A few years back, while visiting our daughter’s family in Finland, we took a three-hour ferry ride from Helsinki to Estonia to visit that country’s markets and historic sights. Hundreds of passengers travel back and forth daily. Tourists go for the sights, but some Finns take the trip for other reasons.

Many goods are cheaper in Estonia. Restauranteurs and bar owners travel back and forth to buy spirits in bulk. Many board the ferry with empty suitcases, wagons, carts, and pallets and return with them full on the late afternoon ferry. 

With stroller, backpacks, and umbrellas, we joined the hordes queuing for the ship. My daughter had booked a four-bunk cabin hoping our two grandsons would nap, but my husband and I, weary from traveling with (or without) small children, climbed into the top bunks and collapsed into dreamland. We woke up as the boat docked.

Slogging through the rain (it always rains when we sight-see), we visited the town market buying some woolen Estonian mittens and dragging the stroller up and down cobblestoned streets — mostly up. One street was so steep that we stopped halfway up to contemplate our foolishness in attempting it but, with one grandson sleeping sweetly in his stroller and the other scrambling ahead, we soldiered on. As we caught our breath at the top, we realized that we’d lost the baby’s hat. Our daughter retraced our steps as we waited with slumbering baby and dancing toddler. The hat retrieved, we headed for the ship.

Back at the dock, many tired travelers pulled pallets filled with cases of wine or beer. Three hours  later, we disembarked in Helsinki. Skipping the now very long elevator line, we lugged the stroller, toddlers, and backpacks down the steps and into the rain to wait for the tram. 

The first tram was packed with people, suitcases, wagons, and cases of spirits. We decided to wait for the next one, but the first tram didn’t move. We noticed a man standing on the sidewalk with an empty stroller waving to a woman holding a baby sardined on the tram. When the crowd realized their dilemma, a couple on the tram gathered their suitcases, carts and cases and stepped off. The father boarded and we all applauded. 

We got home wet and exhausted yet inspired by the driver who wouldn’t move his tram despite his exacting schedule and the heavy-laden passengers who got off so the father could get on. 

Standing still or standing up to do what is right is always the right thing to do.