Christmas Pageantry

[Note: I found this 2-year old entry sitting in my "draft" box, and since I'm in the middle of reading The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, I think today is as good a time as any to publish it.]

I adore children's Christmas pageantry. Is there anything better than...

regal wisemen? Or ...

bored stiff Gabriels? Or ...

distracted shepherds? Or ...

... worshiping animals? Or

... darling angels?

Oh, wait a minute. What's this?

A fallen angel?  Heaven's no!  Just a good reminder than even saints wear their halos clumsily. At least I know I do.

Getting honest with ourselves does not make us unacceptable to God. 

It does not distance us from God, but draws us to Him
 -- as nothing else can --

and opens us anew to the flow of grace. 

While Jesus calls each of us to a more perfect life,
we cannot achieve it on our own. 

To be alive is to be broken; to be broken is to stand in need of grace. 

It is only through grace that any of us could dare to hope

that we could become more like Christ.

Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, pg. 87

Just an ordinary moment...