One of my unforgettable memories go back when our younger daughter was born during my M.Th. studies at Serampore. On account of a local incident, the private nursing homes were shut down, one of which was the one we had booked for my delivery. With no option left, I was admitted in the government hospital, with poor infrastructure. We agreed to take risk because my trusted doctor was the Medical Superintendent. As I look back, my stay there was a time of great learning. The hospital, except my doctor, was beyond description! Absolutely appalling. I remember one of my teachers commenting, “do you think you can survive here?”
Today, as I ponder over that experience, I cannot but shriek as I recall the experience of Mary and Joseph when they were offered the stable for the birth of Jesus. My government hospital was sort of heaven, when I compare it with the stable. Mary’s birth pangs would have doubled as she and her loving husband experienced the pain in their bodies and minds. The skilled carpenter surely had planned for a lovely crib that he would design. And the young mother would have spent lazy afternoons working at baby quilts and baby bed spreads to keep the new born warm. Both crib and baby sheets would have been left unfinished because of the summons to go to Bethlehem for the census.
And now in this dreadful stable, crib and warm clothes vanished into thin air, and the poor parents were lost among the cattle, the manger and the hay on the ground, not forgetting the smelly atmosphere all around. If these were God’s provision for the Saviour, then each ought to be significantly precious! Being totally clueless as to how to go about, Joseph suddenly saw his designer crib with the little lambs and kids feeding on the hay from it! slowly the animals moved and in place of the hay there were beautiful hand stitched baby sheets. Joseph just took one of those mangers, stacked and lined it with hay and on which Mary placed some pieces of cloths which were perhaps torn from the bigger sheets/blankets that they had carried during their journey.
Suddenly, the overwhelmingly offensive became a matter of great worth. The manger, the hay became objects for divine residence. Incredible! Awesome! But what makes me absolutely awestricken is the fact that there are many around us who are not only thought of as lifeless dry hay, but also people whose very existence is a cause of shame and disgust. They are robbed off their human dignity and worth. They are the ‘I’ of the LGBTIQ community. Yet, they are created in God’s image, and are endued with divine compassion and creativity. I am awestruck for the simple reason that God requires even them for purposes beyond our understanding, just as the hay became the warm and cosy bed for the infant Jesus.
God in dirty places? Why not? Isn’t every place, every molecular area on this earth, and the entire universe, created by the Great Architect? If this Creator has fashioned everything, who are we to label things dirty ? and even if we have ‘conditioned’ ourselves to call places ‘dirty’ let us be reminded that “God so loved the (dirty) world and sent the only begotten Son, so that all who believe in Him may not tag anything dirty, but discover everlasting life in all that is apparently dry and lifeless”.
Prayer
God of life and hope, in this season of Advent as we reflect upon your coming, turn our fantasy and plans into something least expected, so that we may awaken to all that is neglected, despised and hated, and find them bloom into new life, love and wholeness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen
Author: Rev. Priscilla Papiya Durairaj
About the Author: Rev. Priscilla Papiya Durairaj is an ordained minister currently teaching in the department of Biblical Studies (New Testament) in the Bishop’s College, Kolkata.
No comments:
Post a Comment