Looking for Christmas - “Looking for a Miracle”

We stood in a hushed line in a musty church building ready to see the very place Mary birthed Jesus. My skepticism was at an all time high and my gregarious behavior had the attending orthodox priest more grumpy than normal. I warned Tara not to have her expectations to high. This building was erected by Constantine's mother in law some three hundred years after the fact. The spot of Jesus birth was at best suspect. In my best pastor/theologian voice I began to pronounced to her, and to all who wanted to drink from my vast knowledge (with tongue in cheek), the historicity of the location and the scholarly division of its authenticity. Never the less we stood for we were looking for the miracle...the place were God appeared from the womb of a virgin and changed the course of human history.

Somewhere in my heart I longed to see, to feel, to embrace the historical reality of Jesus. The standing on line had become a quest.

We wound down a serpentine stair case to view a silver star marking the place of the divine birth. The air was thick with incense mixed with hushed prayers of the devout. We were not alone in our quest. Others were looking for a miracle as well.. They huddled in the dark corner of the grotto singing and praying, seeking the divine.

This seeking makes us one in this quest for the miraculous. We share the same desire. We all are in need, will be in need, or remember a time that we needed God to come through. We long to see God, not just the place of his birth, but the intersection of His life with ours. You might have come into this place today with that burning in your heart...you need a miracle.

I heard this week that impossible was one of God's favorite words because he love to prove us wrong. Nothing is Impossible for him.

Today we will look for a miracle as found in Dr. Luke's account of the birth of Christ. We will not stand on line in a musty old building but we will see the place where God came be born...be born in you. Are you looking for a miracle...well...he is here...Christ the Lord.