Remembering The Reason For The Season In '07

By Scott R. Cooper, Crook County Judge
first published in the Central Oregonian, December 2007

Did you ever stop to think about what really happened around Christmas some 2000 years ago?

Here’s the story: A Jewish man named Joseph, and Mary his wife—pregnant, but not by her husband—found themselves travelling through the Holy Land to the ancestral land of Joseph’s family. Not only was Mary pregnant, she was REALLY pregnant, and no doubt her ungainly belly, water-swollen ankes and other unpleasant side-effects were on her mind, as at long last the little family saw an inn come into view.

I bet Mary was beside herself with joy: at last, the chance for a warm bed, a hot bath and something decent too eat. Finally, she could put away the donkey and put up her feet. After days of travelling from Nazareth to Bethlehem, it must have seemed like the most wonderful thing in the world.

And then Joseph got to tell her, “Honey, I forgot to make reservations.”

The gospel writers are silent about what happened next, but I’m married. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to figure out what Mary might have said or how she might have said it, and most of my ideas on this subject don’t involve the serene Mother of God the Christmas cards typically depict.

At any rate, after all the fireworks ensued a second-best place was found in the stable of the inn. Shortly thereafter a baby was born. There was some wrapping up in something called “swaddling clothes”, the baby was laid in a manger. A star appeared, some singing angels serenaded the newborn, curious local shepherds came to pay their respects, and wise men showed up bearing cools gifts.

All’s well that ends well, and in this story, despite a rough start, things didn’t turn out so bad .

But a couple of millenia later as we approach the annual commemoration of these great events, I muse to myself, what might pregnant Mary and weary Joseph and their newborn baby have faced if they were wandering about in our community in December looking for a place to stay.

If all our inns were full, where would a desperate young couple go? Since wise men bearing gold don’t travel this way much, where would they get a few dollars to fill empty bellies? How would they even get around, given that high-mileage, high-maintenance cars are more available than donkeys.

I wonder, too, what worries would have filled the minds of a modern-day Mary and Joseph about the future of their newborn son. Would they wonder how they would get healthcare if he were to get sick? Would they wonder about where they would find affordable daycare? What about quality schools and the opportunity to go to college? At least Mary and Josephy had the sure and certain knowledge that their culture required their children to take care of them in their old age. In our era, Mary and Joseph would have to worry whether the new baby might grow up, go away and leave them to the tender mercies of an inadequate Social Security check or an underfunded pension.

Surely God knew what he was doing when he sent his Son to mankind during the First Century and not into the Twenty-First Century.

With all this in mind, as we enter the busy holiday season, let’s keep in mind that the challenges of living in our day and age remain complex, and the task of successfully raising children and gathering the basic resources needed to live are daunting.

We are all blessed with different talents, different levels of abundance, different luck and different opportunities, but the number of blessings we count have much to do with what it will take to make this Christmas memorable.

For some, it’s a fur coat or a leather jacket; for others, it’s a good, quality overcoat from the Neat Repeat

For some, it’s ham and turkey and wine and three kinds of pie at Christmas dinner; for others, it’s a simple food box from St. Vincent DePaul.

For some, it’s having enough bedroomss for all the kids coming home for the holidays and having enough hot water so that everyone gets a shower on Christmas morning; for others, it’s just the hope of having decent housing in time for Christmas.

It’s not too late this Christmas season to remember those who are less fortunate than most of the readers of this newspaper. Whether it’s a name taken from one of the kids’ or seniors’ holiday giving trees in a bank lobby, a few extra groceries dropped off at The Oasis or St. Vincent DePaul, some spare change dropped in the Salvation Army bell-ringer’s bucket, or a little extra in the collection plate some Sunday, you can still make a difference in somebody’s life this holiday.

Joseph and Mary aren’t expected at dinner on Christmas Day in Prineville, 2007, but the spirit of loving, and sharing and caring that the birth of their baby ushered in and lived a life to demonstrate is still with us. Let’s honor the season by keeping in mind the reason for the season, and do what we can to make this Christmas bright for everyone.

Peace and goodwill to all.