Christmas and the Great Event Organizer

222 TALKING WITH GOD


Note: shortly before the final layout of Talking with God was decreed permanently and irreversibly, it became necessary to cut three pages; I chose these three.
Our character, the Great Event Organizer, knows how an incredible event of cosmic proportions should be planned.
Or, he thinks he does.

                                        
                                 Another Christmas?

I know you’re planning something special this season, Lord.
Well, I have an idea, ‘cause this is going to be the biggest and best celebration ever, right?
So this is what we’re going to do: a spectacular celestial fireworks!
Shooting stars streaking all over the sky!
Lightning flashes that make the whole globe glow!
Claps of thunder that will get the attention of even the most jaded!
It’ll be the kind of annunciation no one can ignore.
What do you say?

Just one special star?
I wonder if anyone will notice!

And an angel?
Well, that’s not how I’d do it, but an angel can be pretty special too.
Send it flaming down through the sky, blazing like a meteor, so that all eyes go up.
Then let it hover about a mile or so above ground, and give that angel a mighty voice that cleaves the night sky when it announces the birth of God on earth.

Say, have you thought of waiting 2000 years, when television cameras can catch this fiery flash from heaven and make the whole world watch in wonder?

The time is now; okay.

What? No universal annunciation?
Just one angel appearing to a young girl in Nazareth, of all places?
With no witnesses?
What’s the use of that!
Who’s going to believe her?

Okay, listen God, I have another idea:
send your best angel choirs down to give
heavenly Christmas concerts in every major population center.
Send the biggest ones to downtown Jerusalem and Temple Square!
Let the light of their wings radiate through the whole city
as a fitting symbol for the "light of the world."
Let their music waft through every cobblestoned alley and silence every speech.
Make the whole world listen and believe!

Good, you will send a choir.
But only one?

Where?!
To a forsaken field far from town?
To a bunch of tone-deaf shepherds?
Why?!
Who is going to believe an ignorant, superstitious shepherd?
Dear God, what kind of production planning is this?
I mean, let’s shoot for some results here!

Well, let’s talk about the blessed event itself, then.
This is going to be special, right?
Of consequence for the whole world, right?
The birth that is going to make the Big Difference for ever and ever?
So, let’s see.
No celestial pyrotechnics in earthly skies, you said.
A big mistake, I think, but you’re the Boss.
At least let’s do the Birth Day right, okay?
I know the palace is out—too bad but Pilate wouldn’t understand.
I think I can find a mansion fit for a king, though.
I’ve got connections, you know.
I know a rich young ruler with a beautiful pad.
Or Nicodemus of the Sanhedrin,
or Joseph of Arimathea—all well-heeled and prominent.
I can arrange for the peasant girl—yes, Mary—to get a special invitation;
just leave everything to me.

Not in Jerusalem?!
In Bethlehem!!

I don’t get it.
So, what are we going to use—Herod’s palace?
I didn’t think so.

Bethlehem—that rather limits the options, doesn’t it.
No Hiltons or Hyatts there yet.
You sure you don’t want to wait a couple of millennia?
We could have flashing neon signs all over; and CNN.
Well, let me see what I can do, though I must say you make it rather difficult.
I’ll pick the best place there is.
And I’ll arrange for the best doctors in town.
I’ll take care of a complete layette too.
Plus we’ll need a town crier or something.
And how about a fancy carriage with white Arabians for the temple ceremony?

What?!
No room in any inn?
Not even for the Heavenly King?
What kind of start in life do you plan to give your only Son!

A cattle shed?!
Is this supposed to be some kind of divine joke?
No doubt it’s going to make many laugh themselves silly.
For who’s going to bow their knee to a deprived infant in a smelly barn?

Oh, the shepherds—of course.
And who’s going to believe that this underprivileged baby is the Savior of the world?

I mean, dear God, do you know what you are doing?

your ways are not my ways...
therefore, whoever humbles himself like this
child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And whoever welcomes a little child like this
in my name welcomes me. 

To ponder: What can we learn from God’s "different" ways?