What a wild circus of textures Christmas is! Come, let’s “feel our way” around the glories of this tactile celebration!
First feel the soft skin of a baby, who is God-made-most-touchable, most-vulnerable for us who “were afar off.”
Touch a baby; tenderly embrace a child to honor Him who was Love in a baby blanket…. in our arms.
Touch the rough texture of a well-worn wooden manger and the prickly straw that fills it.
Touch the moist noses of the cows and horses that stand, curious, around. Feel the night air.
Then touch the celebration that has gradually come to surround this “most touchable” happening. Feel the needles of the evergreen tree and boughs that announce that because of Jesus we shall always live!
Touch the snow that covers the ground and remember the “covering” – the atonement – that makes us “whiter than snow” in the eyes of God.
Touch the red berries on the branches we gather and put in all sorts of containers, remembering that this child would one day shed his blood that its life-giving qualities could fill us all no matter the shape, size, or condition of our containers.
Touch the lights as they burn warm, string them everywhere. Light the streets and the houses, the cathedrals and the back streets with them, for the chill of death has been replaced by warmth and light.
Touch your children, your neighbors; the community with reconciliation. Take someone a warm cake; extend a warm handshake; offer the thawing warmth of forgiveness.
Hold and ring the gold and silver bells. Ring out the news that the Creator of the galaxies has touched us. Yes, ring the bells and pass them on! Touch someone else. We are not alone!
