By Sister Jon Julie Sullivan, SNDdeN
There it was, the brown earthen hut. Put up more than a year ago, with no windows. I stopped to take a picture because it looked like the stable in the old story about Bethlehem.
I love it best when it's wearing a blanket of snow. Sometimes I see it in the nearly total darkness of night on my way home. Every time I pass by I hope to see light inside the structure. Maybe a lamb or two.
Months ago, I began to think about what I wanted for Christmas. Listening to other people, I heard hopes for peace and good will, for healing and laughter, for tidings of comfort and joy, for fewer sad stories around the world. That's what I want for Christmas too.
We keep trying to find gifts for people we love, knowing that what they want for Christmas can't be bought. We have to let the old story come alive in us, see that we are a village of earthen homes where it is possible for Christ to come alive again in us, making us more stable, with only a door so all God sends us are welcome.