“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you” (Isaiah‬ ‭66‬:‭13‬a ‭CEB‬‬).

I grew up in Michigan, spoiled by snowy Christmases. Dad took me out on all sorts of chilling adventures: sledding, tobogganing, downhill skiing. Some of my earliest memories are getting bundled up in immobilizing winter gear to make snowmen, snow angels, and snow forts with my father. It was great fun right up until the moment my fingertips went numb with cold. It didn’t take long to thaw out though because Mom was always ready to welcome me back inside with dry clothes, a blanket, and a mug of hot chocolate filled to the brim with marshmallows.

My parents worked as a team to make Christmas special. They were the heroes of the holidays. Likewise, Joseph and Mary were the human heroes of Christ’s nativity. They worked as a team to protect and nurture the Lord Jesus while he was most vulnerable. In doing so, they imitated a combination of characteristics that can be attributed to God.

We all know God is fatherly, but according to Isaiah God is also motherly. The Lord is both a protector and a nurturer. All of the best qualities we find in one another—whether they are masculine or feminine, big or small, young or old—are qualities we find in the triune God.

O Lord, thank you for making us in your image. Help us, as a community, spread joy and warmth this Christmas. Amen.