Screen capture of the author’s Christmas editorial from the Dallas Morning News. Read here: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2022/12/25/mary-and-joseph-had-much-to-fear-i-can-relate/

This year, the Dallas Morning News asked me to write the lead Christmas day editorial. Truly delighted, I happily obliged and wrote a meditation narrative about the healing power of love to overcome fear.

Unfortunately, the editorial is behind a paywall so if you click through HERE, you’ll have to decide whether you want to pay $1 for a six-month digital subscription that you can cancel whenever (at least I think that’s what I did to see it myself.).

I will, however, share a smidgeon of one of my favorite passages:

One ancient apocryphal source claims Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus eventually settled near modern-day Cairo, in a city called Memphis. The Bible says the young family stayed in Egypt until King Herod was dead — likely a couple of years — and then returned to Nazareth with the toddler savior — RefuJesus, if you will — in tow.
I’m sure they were afraid. But they kept going, trusting in their love for each other and God’s promise to get them through everything, a promise they were reminded of every time they spoke their son’s name. Jesus (or Yeshua, as they likely called him in their native tongue) means “God is salvation.”
What the biblical accounts of Jesus’ birth lack in detail has been filled in by humankind’s imagination over the millennia. Whether it’s Botticelli’s “Mystical Nativity,” Caravaggio’s “Rest on the Flight to Egypt,” Rubens’ “Adoration of the Magi,” or Gauguin’s earthier “Birth of Christ,” we are fascinated with the story of God’s decision to incarnate as a vulnerable, brown baby.

#RefuJesus

Hallelujah and amen.

(And a huge thanks to the wonderful artist and human David Hayward who graciously allowed the newspaper to license his artwork accompany my writing. You can find more of his powerful artwork HERE.)

Update: Here are clear images of the two-page spread from the DMN.

Lux In Tenebris Lucet: Sunday, December 25

Day 28, the final day of our 28-day Advent journey of mini-dispatches to give you pause and light. Christmas light and blessings to one and all.

Mary grows a child without the help of a man
Joseph get upset because he doesn't understand
Angel comes to Joseph in a powerful dream
Says "God did this and you're part of his scheme"
Joseph comes to Mary with his hat in his hand
Says "forgive me I thought you'd been with some other man"
She says "what if I had been - but I wasn't anyway and guess what
I felt the baby kick today"

Like a stone on the surface of a still river
Driving the ripples on forever
Redemption rips through the surface of time
In the cry of a tiny babe

The child is born in the fullness of time
Three wise astrologers take note of the signs
Come to pay their respects to the fragile little king
Get pretty close to wrecking everything
'Cause the governing body of the whole [Holy] land
Is that of Herod, a paranoid man
Who when he hears there's a baby born King of the Jews
Sends death squads to kill all male children under two
But that same bright angel warns the parents in a dream
And they head out for the border and get away clean

Like a stone on the surface of a still river
Driving the ripples on forever
Redemption rips through the surface of time
In the cry of a tiny babe

There are others who know about this miracle birth
The humblest of people catch a glimpse of their worth
For it isn't to the palace that the Christ child comes
But to shepherds and street people, hookers and bums
And the message is clear if you've got [you have] ears to hear
That forgiveness is given for your guilt and your fear
It's a Christmas gift [that] you don't have to buy
There's a future shining in a baby's eyes

Like a stone on the surface of a still river
Driving the ripples on forever
Redemption rips through the surface of time
In the cry of a tiny babe

—Bruce Cockburn, “Cry of a Tiny Babe”

Listen to Bruce perform my most favourite Christmas song HERE.

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, Judah territory—this was during Herod’s kingship—a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked around, ‘Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We’re on pilgrimage to worship him.’”

—Gospel of St. Matthew 2:1–2 (MSG)

May the Light of the Word shine upon your path and guide your way.

May the Light watch over you and be a companion to you by night.

May the Light burn in your hearts and shine through your lives by day.

And through your living, may you be a witness of that Light to the world.

—Pamela Stewart, from A Festival of Carols

Earlier essays on Advent:

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Cathleen Falsani: This Numinous World

Sunday Stories: A Christmas Story