Ordinary

Have you ever wondered what the characters in the Nativity story were really like? I have. This meditation might help you to think a little differently about them.

She was absolutely ordinary. She had no distinguishing features to set her apart from the rest of her friends. In fact, she was pretty much like all the rest of us. She wasn’t terribly attractive. Her nose was a little bit too big, and her skin tended to be oily. Her hair was a nondescript brown and straight as a stick, which explained why she usually pulled it back into a rather unflattering pony tail. She wasn’t the best student. Although she worked hard in her high school classes, she usually made C’s and an occasional B- (which was always a cause for celebration in her household). That wasn’t good enough to get her into college, and everyone knew it. She wasn’t exceptionally talented, either. She wasn’t on the soccer team, in the show choir, or on the cheerleading squad. She had long ago resigned herself to the fact that she would always be the last one chosen for anyone’s team. To top it off, she was – well, “big-boned.” When she was a baby, her father had nicknamed her “Punky” because he called her “his little Pumpkin”; and the nickname stuck. She had always bought her clothing in the “chubby girls” section; and she never managed to outgrow that addition padding. The neighborhood children didn’t care, though. Punky may not have been popular with her fellow teenagers, but she was a hit with the children. They all loved her! If she happened to walk past the playground, they would run to her and tug at her jeans, begging, “Play with us, Punky! Swing me on the swing! Go down the slide with me! Let me sit on your lap!” They all knew that Punky loved them just as much as they loved her.

Punky was engaged to Jack, a boy who was a few years older than she was. Jack had gone to vocational school and was employed with a construction firm. He wasn’t a brilliant worker, but he was steady and reliable; and you could count on Jack doing his very best on any job that he did. Punky and Jack had agreed to wait to be married until Punky was out of high school. Punky’s parents were afraid that if she didn’t get that diploma now, she never would. They were afraid of something else, too. They were afraid that Punky wouldn’t be able to handle the responsibilities of being a wife, let alone being a mother! She wasn’t a great cook. Oh, Punky could make toast, and boxed macaroni and cheese, and even fry hamburgers. But she would never be able to whip up a standing rib roast, twice-baked potatoes, and broccoli au gratin. She wasn’t a natural housekeeper, either. Why, sometimes she had trouble folding the laundry!

And that’s just what Punky was doing on the morning when her life changed forever. She was struggling with a fitted sheet that didn’t want to be folded (and the sheet was winning), when she noticed a strange light in the corner of the laundry room. It was intensely bright, yet soothing and welcoming at the same time. As she gazed at it, wondering what it could be, she heard a voice that sounded like it was coming from the light. “Good morning!” it said. “Do you know how happy God is with you? I hope that you’re ready to be a mother, because you are going to give birth to God’s own son!”

Oh, I didn’t tell you, did I? Punky’s real name was Mary; and Jack’s real name was Joseph. Mary and Joseph. You know the rest of the story: how Mary gave birth to the Christ child after she and Joseph were forced to travel far from their home. I hope that you’re not offended that I have pictured Mary as such an ordinary girl. I have described her as not especially smart or talented, and not even especially attractive. We usually imagine Mary very differently, don’t we? The pictures of Mary that we see always show her as beautiful, with perfect features and flowing hair; and we just assume that she was as smart and as talented as she was beautiful. But if the Christmas story tells us anything, it is that God chooses to come to us through very ordinary people. Mary wasn’t special because she was prettier or smarter or more talented than anybody else. She was special because God chose her to give birth to the Messiah. God has chosen all of us, too – all of us who are ordinary people just like Mary. We are the ones God has chosen to give birth to the Christ child. We are the ones who will give birth to the Messiah by shining God’s light into a dark world. We are the ones whose words and deeds will reflect the glory of Jesus Christ. God didn’t choose us for that job because we’re anything special. God chose us ordinary people because we, like Mary, have God’s favor.

During our recent Christmas Eve worship service, each worshiper lit a candle; and for a brief time, the whole sanctuary was filled with light. If each one of us ordinary people gives birth to the Spirit of the Christ child in our lives, the whole world will be filled with God’s light! I invite you to carry that Light with you throughout the coming year, and to give birth to the Christ child every single day of your ordinary life. If you do that, then people won’t have to search for the Messiah in a dark stable. They will see the Child in you.