Pastor’s Points of Light - Christmas 2004

Christ is Born!  I pray that you have had a blessed Christmas.  You may have noticed that this year’s mailing of the “youghakin offering” and the Christmas Bulletins had a traditional “Eastern” icon of the Nativity.  This depiction is in fact a much more suitable, historically and theologically accurate translation of the Gospel of Christ’s Nativity than the typical greeting card image.

The Birth of Christ is a celebration of joy. The fact that God became man and entered into our human life is seen in the Icon of the Nativity. Wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger is the Christ Child. All the details of the Icon relate to His presence in the World. This presence shines radically with the black opening of the cave in which He was born. This contrast is often seen in the Fathers' writings in terms of the spiritual light of Christ's birth radiating through the shadows of death encompassing man. The black mouth of the cave then symbolically, is precisely this fallen world in which the "Sun of Righteousness" has dawned, this wilderness which the "Light of Wisdom" has illumined. The Virgin Mother is shown half sitting, supported by a hammock- type bed used by the early Jews in their travels. Striking is the absence of the usual sufferings of childbirth which is iconographically seen to be an indication of the virgin-birth of Christ.   As in the Gospel, all mankind is called to this event. The Wise men represent the learned and astute, and the shepherds represent the humble of this world. A multitude of Angels give glory to God and announce this good news to mankind.

In the Icon, several episodes are grouped together and shown simultaneously.  In the bottom left corner, Joseph sits in painful thought, while the Satan under the guise of an old and bent shepherd suggests new doubts and suspicions to him.  In the opposite corner, two women are seen bathing the New-born infant to show the real humanity of Jesus.

All of Creation takes part in the birth of the Savior.  In the cave, the Infant lies guarded by an ox and a donkey.  While the Gospels do not speak of them, all icons of the Nativity portray them because of the prophecy of Isaiah, “An ox knows its owner and an ass its master’s manger.” (Is. 1:3)  The Mountainside is a backdrop to the event.  While it bears little correspondence to the terrain of Bethlehem in Judea, it parallels a line from the prayer of the prophet Habakkuk; "God comes from Teman, the Holy One from Mt. Paran. Covered are the heavens with His glory, and with His praise the earth is filled' [Hab. 3:3]  One final detail is the tree painted across from the image of Joseph included not only in its own right as an offering to Christ, but also as a symbol of the Tree of Jesse. In the words of the Prophet Isaiah, "But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him:' (Is. 11:1-2]

The icon of the Nativity calls us to praise and glorify the Birth of Christ and to offer unto Him our gifts as He is offered unto us as God’s Greatest Gift. Gazing upon the Miracle and Gift of God’s Incarnation I say, “What shall I bring to You, O Christ, Who, for my sake, was born on earth as man?  Humanity offers a Virgin Mother and I offer myself.”  Blessed is the Revelation of Christ.

In Christ,

Der Shnork