Close To The Manger

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “For the mighty ones, for the great ones of this world, there are only two places where their courage deserts them, which they fear in the depths of their souls, which they dodge and avoid: the manger and the cross of Jesus Christ.”

I’m not sure where to start. Having discovered only recently that he penned an Advent book and that it was not in my collection left me… Longing. Not longing in a sinful way, but hungry to hear how this saint prepared His heart for the birth of Christ. Christmas must mean something much different when locked in a prison. Where would our hope be given a similar condition? It’s guaranteed that is something we would soon discover as there would be no veil of gifts, of pomp, of holiday cheer to feign a joy incomplete.

Even during this perpetual masquerade of a season, we can, if we allow ourselves, brush up against the authenticity of courage when we willingly approach the manger. It’s interesting to think that the manger itself would be something to avoid, but this symbol of naked humility is truly where fear is exposed and faith is found out. Further, in proximity to the manger is also where we live a faith based not from memory, but from true encounter itself. We may fear the seemingly long bend down from being upright to kneeling beside the manger, but once we’ve bent to see what’s inside a hope is born and a promise is kept.

Bonhoeffer goes on to say, “Who among us will celebrate Christmas right? Those who finally lay down all their power, honor, and prestige, all their vanity, pride, and self-will at the manger, those who stand by the lowly and let God alone be exalted, those who see in the child in the manger the glory of God precisely in this lowliness. Those who say, along with Mary, ‘The Lord has regarded my low estate. My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.’”

This quote makes me restless. Restless in that I fight my own will to be exalted on a regular basis. Restless because I am simultaneously inspired by and resistant to standing by the lowly. Restless because, if I am being honest, I too often have one hand on the manger and one hand on the frankincense and myrrh. Or even worse, are the days when both hands reach for the gifts alone.

But restlessness is better than apathy. So, though I am restless, I am encouraged also by this particular Bonhoeffer thought on the battle to wait and associate with God in our own lives:

“The only ones who can wait are people who carry restlessness around with them and people who look up with reverence to the greatest in the world. Thus Advent can be celebrated only by those whose souls give them no peace, who know that they are poor and incomplete, and who sense something of the greatness that is supposed to come, before which they can only bow in humble timidity, waiting until he inclines himself toward us – the Holy One himself, God in the child in the manger.”

Do we exist with the sense of the greatness that is supposed to come? Are we restless because we are poor and incomplete? These are questions that have abound as a result of reading this saint today.