For the Birds... pt. 2

Christmas comes each year to draw people in from the cold. Like tiny frightened sparrows, shivering in the winter cold, many live their lives on the barren branches of heartbreak, disappointment, and loneliness, lost in thoughts of shame, self-pity, guilt or failure. One blustery day follows another, and the only company the keep is with fellow-struggers who land on the same branches, confused and unprotected.

Then, as the year draws to a close, Christmas offers its wonderful message. Emmanuel. God with us. He who resided in heaven, willingly descended into our world. He breathed our air, felt our pain, knew our sorrows, and died for our sins. He didn't come to frighten us, but to show us the way to warmth and safely.

Charles Swindoll
The Finishing Touch

For the Birds, pt. 1

The Christmas story absolutely escaped Tom. The whole “God born in a manger” thing was beyond him. Or maybe it was just too simple for him to grasp. At least, until that Christmas Eve when the snow began to fall. Tom had just settled into his fireside chair and begun to read when he heard thumping sounds on the window and at first he thought someone was throwing snowballs. He went to the door. Looking into the yard, he found a small flock of birds, huddled there in the snow. They had been caught in the storm and had desperately tried to find shelter by flying through his large living room window. He knew he couldn’t let those little creatures freeze. The barn! Where the children keep the pony. That would provide shelter if he could get the birds in there.

He opened the barn doors and turned on a light. The birds didn’t move. Maybe some food would entice them. He sprinkled bread crumbs next to the stable door. Nothing. He tried catching them and shooing them. The birds went everywhere, except into the barn. They were afraid of him. I want them to trust me, he thought. How can I convince them I want to help? But any move he made tended to frighten them. They would not follow or be lead or shooed.

“If only I could be a bird myself,” he thought. “If I could be a bird and mingle with them and speak their language and show them the way to the barn, then they could see and understand.” It was at that moment the church bells began to ring. Listening to the good news, Tom understood--and sank to his knees in the snow.

Shakespeare and the Incarnation

If Shakespeare and Hamlet could ever meet, it must be Shakespeare’s doing. Hamlet could initiate nothing.. Shakespeare could, in principle, make himself appear as Author within the play, and write a dialogue between Hamlet and himself. The “Shakespeare” within the play would of course be at once Shakespeare and one of Shakespeare’s creatures. It would bear some analogy to Incarnation.

CS Lewis
Surprised by Joy