read during worship at Plymouth Congregational Church in Helena Montana
Of course I gave him “the look”…you know the look. He’s a man and so often forgets the important parts. He’s a good man. I just give him the look to keep him on his toes.
Right now he was about to skip from this young woman being pregnant to a newborn appearing, as if it is that easy – men. Well I’ve something to add.
When I found out about the woman in labor in the stable I hurried out, found the stable boy (my grandson, a good, hard working boy) and sent him to fetch the Midwife. Turns out she was at another birth. It was up to me to attend this young mother. Luckily I’ve helped the midwife at many a birth, so I knew what to do.
I got to help Mary, that was her name, through the long hours of labor – feeding her, wiping her brow, helping her move around to help the birth come faster.
Now as I’ve said, I’ve been at many a birth helping the Midwife, and I’ve always sensed that birth is a miracle, that birth is holy. Now you don’t hear about that at the synagogue, but it’s true non-the-less. How could it not be with a fresh new person appearing in the world after emerging from a woman’s body?
And somehow this birth confirmed what I felt and was extra special, I don’t quite know why.
Maybe it was because Mary prayed to the Holy Spirit in between her contractions – I’d never heard a woman do that!
Maybe it was because her husband, Joseph was his name, had nowhere else to go and so did an unheard of thing – he held her hand the whole time. Such a look of love passed between those two. If ever there had been any trouble between them, that was a thing of the past.
Maybe it was the hush that fell over the animals in the stable, as if they were paying attention.
Maybe it was because this birth was in a stable and not in some fancy house, and I could still sense the holiness.
Or maybe it was the look that the baby gave its mother – something I’ve never seen before. After we had dried him off (it was a boy) and were handing him to Mary, he seemed to look right at her with a look that said, “Thank you Mother for bringing me into this world.”
Then there were the shepherds – where did they come from? They were so quiet standing at the stable door, only seemed to want to see the babe. So with Mary’s permission I held the babe up for them to see. The next time I looked up they were gone. I’ve often wondered why in heaven’s name they came and how did they know about the birth?
Well, I just wanted you to know two things: that Mary did have help – I stayed with her the whole time and the Midwife got there just when needed. The second thing I want to say is that I know for sure that all birth is holy. The birth of Mary’s son confirmed that for me.
Oh – of course we moved out of our room that day and let the young couple and their new baby stay there – and my husband didn’t even grumble.
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