Christmas is about the Almighty taking notice of a small planet and showing up as one of its creatures--not as a priest or king but as a poor working class human.
Such extreme humility shouldn't happen. But God's humble intervention in human affairs through a child growing up in an unknown village is the model we are called to follow. Humility--not pomp and power.
Our current president doesn't understand the call to be a servant, not a king--a slave, not a dictator. He was a baby born into wealth who grew up to be a showoff and oppressor of the poor, especially migrants.
Most of us grow up with the usual worldly values. We want to become rich and famous, one way or another, or at least comfortable.
But the Christmas story reminds us that the most unimportant person we see could be bringing God's presence into our life.
The baby Jesus became a dime-a-dozen craftsman and later a well-known prophet, executed as a trouble maker, a kind of whistleblower,
Mary, his teenage mother, was amazed and shocked when her cousin proclaimed that her unborn baby would be important--that she could be the one to bring God to earth by carrying a child who would shake human powers.
The compiler of the Gospel according to Luke gave Mary a prophetic speech at this point, praising God: "the Mighty One has done great things for me."
Her words are like the prayer of Hannah, mother of Samuel, who proclaimed that the poor, hungry, feeble, and barren would be lifted up, and that the God of Israel "YHWH will judge the ends of the earth."
This week the House Judiciary Committee is judging the president. If God's hand is in this judgment,Washington, D.C., is one of the ends of the earth being judged in fulfillment of this prophecy.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high...." (God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas (Louisville, NK: Westminster John Knox, 2010).
Instead of feeling irritated that our Christmas festivities are interrupted by this impeachment, let's recognize that righteous intervention into our lives is what Christmas is all about.
God "has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts... brought down the powerful from their thrones," as the Gospel of Luke says.
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