Displacement and Disgrace: The Christmas Story
December has typically represented displacement for me in the last few years. This Christmas will mark the first Christmas that I have not moved in four years. It will mark the first Christmas without any of my kids. I am not complaining, mind you. I do not wish to be the poster woman for the First World Problems meme. But for someone who just learned how to do Christmas well, to enjoy the holiday with family, it feels like a loss. The reasons are somewhat complicated, involving jobs and relocations and sometimes impossible working situations. But the fact remains that I will not be pulling out much, if any, décor because it seems like a lot of work just for two people.
And then I remember the first Christmas. I appreciate that Jesus went through so many things I have had to face (well, to a degree!). Mary, too. If I was God, which I freely admit I am not, I probably would have orchestrated a very different birth event for my only begotten son. I think I would have skipped through to the present day to avoid the atrocious maternal mortality rate that was the norm for millennia. I might have been tempted to send Jesus to private school and shield Him from mean kids. I definitely would not have made Him poor.
And the whole unwed mother thing. Been there, done that. Being a very young pregnant woman bears a certain amount of shame. The first thing that one of my mother’s friends said to me was that I wouldn’t be able to wear white at my wedding. And I didn’t. I wore ivory two months later, marrying the man who was supposed to make everything all right, and ended up the worst enemy I could imagine.
The first Christmas and the events before and after it were all pictures of displacement. Displacement is the moving of people from where they belong to somewhere they do not belong and are not at home. And Jesus and his mother, Mary, were displaced in so many ways.
Makes me think that God is not as interested if we belong to people and places as much as if we belong to Him.
God knew what He was asking Mary to do. He knew she would bear that disgrace her whole life to those who knew her. She was displaced from her social position. Christians will give lots of money but ask them to give up their social position for disgrace? Maybe not so much.
Giving birth in a barn is a displacement of a rather desperate kind. Essentially, Jesus was born homeless. That is a painful thing to consider. I pass homeless people every day. I try to listen to what God calls me to do individually. Sometimes He directs me to give. Sometimes He directs me not to give. But I know this, homelessness is the displacement of the mentally ill, the addict, and the poverty-stricken. And Jesus, as an adult, was, by his own admission, homeless.
Makes me think that Jesus didn’t view the homeless problem as hopeless.
Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were political refugees as well. Herod, the not-so-great as I think of him, indulged in infanticide. What kind of madness to be jealous of an infant? Millions of people are fleeing similar fates tonight. And no nation is guiltless of displacing the innocent. Here in America, we mostly did it to people of different shades of skin, but religion and political ideologies work just as well.
And He was abused, imprisoned, betrayed, and in the end, crucified. He suffered the displacement of the criminal, innocent though He was. But because He suffered that humiliation, Heaven has one thieving attendee who would otherwise be lost.
Jesus was born, lived, and died an outcast. He represented every kind of displacement or ministered to those who suffered from displacements of varieties he could not experience. He reached out to the prostitute and the demoniac. This comforts me because while I am not an outcast, I have spent my last five years skirting community. It takes time to forge deep friendships, and roots develop over decades, not months. To move every year means that friendships are cut short, and I barely have time to become anything more than a slightly familiar face at church.
But displacement teaches some crucial lessons. For me, the ability to endure long periods of solitude is a gift that makes my writing possible. I learned that I am not a person who can raise six children, teach full-time, and write. And write I must. I am closing in on the first full revision of my novel, and I owe it to all this moving around and the loneliness it engenders.
An Axis Mundi, literarily speaking, is a meeting place between heaven and earth. Jacob’s ladder is one, and the cross is another. But the stable, too, is such a meeting place. The step-father, the disgraced mother, the baby with the world’s fate in His little hands seek temporary refuge there. And strangers bearing gifts and stories of angels find them anyway.
How humble and yet full of grace is this place where a little refugee is born who will make a home for all the lost, the displaced, the disenfranchised, and the broken. I guess if Jesus was born in a state-of-the-art hospital and surrounded by the wisest and most powerful in the world, then the majority of the people in this large, lost world of ours would never get the chance to feel known. They wouldn’t be let through security.
But a stable is open for business. We all get a chance to peer over the stall to see Jesus in a manger, all human, all divine, and destined to be our home where we abide in safety, in this world and the next.
Some interesting reads: (As an Amazon affiliate, I receive a small commission at no cost to you)
Epigenetics, Inherited Trauma, and You: The Ghost of Generational Memory
16 Comments
Jossie J Fowler
Absolutely love your posts. I can hardly wait to read the next one. You’very made my Wednesday morning! Thank you for sharing your gifts.
Melissa
Alice you have such a way with words. Thank you for laying out all of these truths. It helps to put all of our issues, disappointments, and drama into perspective.
aerivera82
Loved this point of view on Jesus’ life. So glad he’s not a respecter of person but that he loves us right where we are.
Heather Hart
I love this. No matter where this Christmas finds us, we can be at home with Jesus.
Nina
Such amazing perspective. Great post! Xx
Tara Adams
I’m so glad Jesus died for ALL of to have equal opportunity to salvation no matter who we are or where we are in life.
Susan Evans (@SusanCEvans)
“I guess if Jesus was born in a state of the art hospital and surrounded by the wisest and most powerful in the world, then the majority of the people in this large, lost world of ours would never get the chance to feel known. They wouldn’t be let through security.” 🙂
I grew up in a third world country (Guatemala) my entire childhood; lived in England three years; lived in CA, TX, and WA–I’ve also lived a life of displacement and say unsettling things to people the way Jesus did. I’ve never belonged anywhere. The place I feel most at home is in the Hispanic church I’m involved in on Sunday afternoons. That’s because they too are displaced.
Leah
Totally relate to the not doing Christmas well! Last year was the first year I’ve actually wanted a Christmas tree in our house.
Lori
We are in a period of displacement. When we moved across country for a job in 2012, I thought the Lord had opened the door he closed in 2008 and we were all set to stay. When we left in August 2016 to return to Georgia, my heart was broken because I knew we would practically be homeless while waiting for a house. We’re still waiting, I know the Lord has a plan and will give in his timing, but it’s hard. There must be a lesson in this for me to learn.
Katie Braswell
Your personal story speaks to me, every time I read. <3 But that's not my point in this comment. Your words really took me to a place; a place where I thought about Jesus' birth, his life, his death. It took me to a place in my heart that led way to a multitude of tears (this is incredible for me, as I don't cry often). Thank you so much. It makes me ponder many things…our beautiful Savior, refugees, the world, my impact. Truly, thank you. <3
headcasechristian
I’ve always loved the circumstances surrounding Christ’s birth because it proves how accessible He is to us all!
merryohler
“He knew that she would bear that disgrace her whole life to the people who knew her. She was displaced from her social position. Christians will give lots of money, but ask them to give up their social position for disgrace? Maybe not so much.”
Oh, conviction. This is so true! Father, help us to never be known by this distinction. Help us to seek what You love and see as You see. Help us to forsake the world in order to love deeply and well.
Michele Morin
How wonderful and amazing that our hearts can become an axis mundi because of Jesus’ huge sacrifice.
Thank you for sharing these great thoughts, interwoven with your own story.
themomgene
You are SO very right here: “Makes me think that God is not as interested if we belong to others as much as if we belong to Him.” Thank you for sharing this and man oh man, I would be a crazy person at the thought of moving three times in four years. But at least you’r not knee deep in clutter like I feel like I am. Blessings on a new year!
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Melissa McLaughlin
You captured my heart with your words, Alice, and helped me think more deeply about Jesus’ plight and the plight of others, like you and your precious girls. I am praying right now for all who are homeless for any reason. May the God of all comfort hold each one.