So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
~Luke 2:16

These are the days… to hurry!

I don’t know too many people who don’t feel hurried. We are hurried in the workplace and in the marketplace, on the roadways and in the hallways. Even places where we least expect—kids at play, those recovering from illness, even in our prayers—we seem to be hurried.

There are the days… to hurry off!

Not only are we hurried with our routines, the hurry of these days takes us off on seasonal tangents that add intensity to the pace. It’s not just all the activity with the holidays. There’s lots of end of year activities for home and business too.

These are the days… to hurry off and find Jesus!

I can’t imagine the life of a shepherd as a hurried lifestyle. But I suspect it’s like every vocation. One can’t fully comprehend the pressures and peculiar pacing of their lives until you’ve lived in their shoes. Surely, they didn’t just sit around all day. Sheep are notorious for getting into trouble. The shepherds also knew the hurried life, but the Bible tells us about one night that changed everything for them. It was on this night that they hurried off… and found Jesus. Meeting Jesus resulted in a return to life, “glorifying and praising God.”

Christmas carols give us this sleepy feel to the town of Bethlehem. Luke chapter two doesn’t read like that. It seems hurried and stressed. Issues of taxation and poverty, foreign travelers and inadequate lodging, labor and delivery don’t lead to “sleep in heavenly peace.” The scriptures, however, do invite us to hurry off to the One who brings peace on earth to hurried people. The works of artists, poets and hymn writers, frequently give us that warm feeling of Bethlehem because that’s where we meet Jesus.

For more than 25 years, Sandi and I have been fascinated with the ways in which artists have portrayed the nativity of Jesus. We have collected nearly 200 nativities together from all over the world. We are particularly drawn to the ways in which various cultures have incorporated Jesus’ story into their own story. Each is a devotional story and invitation to Meet Jesus. By placing the nativity in their own culture, media and design, these artisans are saying, “these are the days…” to hurry off and find Jesus.

These are the days… to hurry off to church!

Our nativities have created a new kind of stress and hurry for our lives in displaying such a large collection. In order to make this year’s Advent and Christmas a little less hurried, we chose to display only a few nativities in our home. But we also decided we could hurry off… and bring them to you as our church family. This weekend we began displaying a sampling of our nativities in the Heritage Room. They will be available for viewing from December 20 – January 3. Throughout these days of Christmas we hope they will provide a way for you to hurry off and see Jesus as you browse them. On Sunday, December 27 (9:25-10:25a) Sandi and I will lead a special Bible class presentation providing commentary on some of these nativities from around the world.

These are the days… to hurry off as disciples!

The hurry of these days is hard to avoid. In all the demands and busyness of these days, keep in mind that you belong to Jesus. He was born so that we could be “bought back” (redeemed) from our hurried lives. In these days that seem to own our time, keep in mind who you really belong to. Like the shepherds, interrupt these days to hurry off from your own fields (wherever they may be) and look for Jesus. Like Mary, treasure these things and ponder them in your heart.