The AnnunciationWhen our sons were little boys, we read the Christmas story to them from a book illustrated with colorful paper cuts (like the one above). The illustrations were so vivid and imaginative, it always led us to ask "wonder" questions. "I wonder if the donkey knew he was carrying Jesus"; or "I wonder what happened to the sheep when the shepherds went to Bethlehem". We got lost in wonder as we became immersed in the story.
Christmas is a season of wonder. The beautiful story of Jesus' birth has inspired authors, artists, and composers for millenia because the story in the Gospel of Luke evokes awe and mystery. Hearing about Mary's encounter with an angel (a wondrous figure), her mysterious and impossible conception, the journey to Bethlehem and the oddness of giving birth in a stable, the angelic message to simple shepherds and their awestruck visit to the manger -- all of it inspires awe and wonder.
In the King James Version of the Christmas story, it says that when the shepherds left the baby in the manger and told others about it, "All they that heard it were filled with wonder."
Wonder is the capacity to enter into awe and mystery. Wonder is what allows us to briefly cross the border into God's territory. Wonder is imagination's gift to us. Wonder is what opens the doors of the soul and gives us wings to fly.
The Christmas story tells us more about God than any other story in the Bible because it opens us to wonder. Thank God for the capacity to wonder and for the beautiful story of Jesus' birth that causes us to wonder.
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