'Wanting the manger to stay empty"

"This year, as I journey toward the pulpit on Christmas Eve, I do so as a pregnant woman. I am due in May, and holding my breath that this baby will make it and be healthy. I approach worship knowing that in my longest night, which ended up lasting for about two months a year ago, I was not alone. The people in my congregation, too, need to know they are not alone. I approach Christmas with new sensitivity to the pain of the people in the pews who may be faking their way through the joy of the season. But isn’t that really the way it is for all of us who observe the Christian year? Even as our Advent journey comes to a close at Christmas, we know that right around the corner is Lent. Our journey is beyond the stable and toward the cross. Joy tinged with pain, but also always surrounded above and beneath, behind and before, completely hemmed in by hope."

This beautifully written paragraph is the final one in a blog entry written by Emily Peck-McClain, an ordained Methodist minister who had, just the year before, miscarried 6 days short of Christmas (her second miscarriage).  Shared through the website www.youngclergywomen.org, her piece was entitled "Wanting the manger to stay empty."  

It is her gift to all who have walked this or a similar path.  A Blessed Christmas to all.