An Ordinary Christmas

In these weeks before Christmas, we find ourselves hauling out our ornaments and decorations, which spend so much of the year stuffed away in boxes, now ready to transform our homes for the holiday season. We  find city streets filled with holiday lights, wreaths and Christmas trees turning ordinary streetscapes into festive boulevards. Everyone puts out their finest spread because, after all, the Christmas story is extraordinary and we want to be prepared to receive it.

In the Christmas story, Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem, an ordinary town really, similar to towns we experience today like Downers Grove. Long before Mary and Joseph arrived, Bethlehem was home to a woman named Ruth, who would become the great grandmother to David and a direct ancestor of Jesus. Ruth, along with Orpah, was a daughter-in-law to Naomi. After Naomi’s husband and two sons died, she decided to return to her home in Bethlehem and encouraged both her daughters-in-law to return to their families in their own homelands. After much consideration, Orpah returned to her family, but Ruth chose to stay with Naomi.

Ruth loved Naomi and pledged that wherever Naomi went, she would go as well. Together they returned to Bethlehem and forged a life there; a difficult journey for two widows.

The story of Ruth and Naomi is inspiring; two resilient women who make a future where there hadn’t been one. Yet, the story is an ordinary one with no miracles or visions. It’s a story of a relationship fulfilled and, as a result, a future provided; a story of faithfulness rewarded. Many Bible stories are similar, extraordinary arising in the midst of the ordinary. The heavenly breaks open amid the mundane. A path chosen that leads to God.

If you want to meet God this Christmas season, there is no need to do anything special. You don’t need to travel great distances, have the biggest Christmas tree or serve the fanciest dinner. God will meet us in the midst of an ordinary place, no decorations required. Whether in the bustle of Downers Grove or in a manger of Bethlehem, God will meet us in Jesus Christ, bringing out the miracle we truly are.