Christmas: God With Us - In the Confusion, Complexity and Mess of Life!

The miraculous staircase and the carpenter who never asked to be paid A Christmas reflection on trust when the way forward seems impossible 7 min read There's a story I read again this week about the supposedly miraculous staircase in the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The sisters had this chapel designed and built in the 1880s, but the architect died before it was completed. Normally that wouldn't be a problem except that he hadn't included the design for how he envisaged the staircase to get the sisters from the ground to the choir 20 feet in the air. It was a confined space and very tricky. When the chapel was complete without the staircase, the sisters called in various experts and carpenters to try and find a solution. But no one could come up with an answer. It was very tight space and very tricky. Nothing could be found. It was impossible. The only solutions were the best of a bad bunch. Maybe a ladder, which was considered inappropriate, unsuitable. So the sisters resorted to a novena — nine days of prayer and fasting, public and private prayer. They prayed to the patron saint of carpenters, St. Joseph. This nine days of prayer happened between the feast of the Ascension and Pentecost. They prayed, and they prayed, and they prayed. On the ninth day, this stranger turned up and asked for work. He had a donkey with a toolbox and some simple tools on its back. He said, "Is there any work you can give me?" The sisters took him into the chapel believing this may be part of the answer to their prayer. They explained their problem. He said, "Okay, I think I can build what you need. The conditions are that you leave me alone and no one comes into the chapel until I'm finished." No one knows whether it was days, weeks, or months. There's various stories. But the sisters gave him his privacy. When they finally got back into the chapel, what they discovered was this amazing double helical staircase that spiralled up several spirals — a couple of spirals, 33 steps, 20 feet into the air. There was no supporting centre pole. Just 33 steps in a spiral. The handiwork was beautiful. Amazing. There were no nails, only wooden pegs and some glue. It was by all accounts and still is a most amazing project. The other mysterious parts about this were the wood. When it was analysed, this wood was no local timber. No one knew where it came from. How did he get it there? Where did he get it from? He only had a donkey to carry it on. And the mysterious stranger disappeared when the work was complete and was never paid. Who was he? No one knows. Many have examined the work and modern experts marvel at the intricacy of the design and the craftsmanship. Even with modern tools and support structures, the work would be incredibly difficult and require a master craftsman. It's a marvellous work. I guess for many people the questions are looked at from a scientific, logical, rational way. How, where, when, who, what, looking for the answers. But for the sisters, this was the work of God. This was an answer to their prayers in the midst of the chaos and the confusion and the complexity of their problem. When only solutions were the best of a bad bunch, they prayed and God provided an answer. Some believe Joseph himself came back and built this. We can ask all the questions we like and we can engage in it in various ways. But for the sisters, it was an act of faith and God was revealed in the midst of their crisis. And they got a way forward. What Christmas is really about I guess that's what Christmas is about. Christmas is about God breaking into human life in the midst of the chaos and the mess and the complexity and all the questions and puzzles and struggles, saying that the universe is not neutral and the universe is not negative towards us. But the universe is held in love, created out of love and grace and wonder. This God who is Trinity, who creates in love and holds everything together. There is this mysterious force of love and grace at work in our lives, in the world, when we're open to it, when we have eyes to see and ears to hear. Will we listen to this story of the miraculous staircase with eyes of faith and wonder and rejoice in the possibilities? Or will we live with doubt and confusion and frustration at not knowing the answers? Matthew's story of Christmas We come to Matthew's story this week, the story, his story of Christmas. We're used to the one in Luke with its census and the journey of a very pregnant Mary and Joseph travelling from Nazareth to Bethlehem. No room in the inn. Living, staying in a cattle store. She giving birth and the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and put into a manger and presumably cattle and sheep around, angels in the sky coming to shepherds and shepherds visiting. We're used to that story and the nativity scenes. But Matthew's is different. Quite simple but profound too. It's the story of a man, Joseph, who discovers that his fiancée is pregnant and he knows that he's not the father. In the simplicity of the story, we're met with a moral puzzle, a question. What does he do? There's all sorts of questions about trust. Who is the bloke? I thought Mary loved him and there was trust, but she's off with another bloke. Who is he? There's the element of risk. Will this father of this child, if he takes Mary and this child as his own, will the father have a claim on his property, on his wealth? Not that there is much. How will it look? Joe knows that Fred down the road would just humiliate Mary publicly, but that's not him. Joseph is a man who is described as righteous, humble, courageous. He wonders whether he should just divorce her quietly and allow her to pursue her own life. Maybe go to this bloke who is the father of the child and he can go off and find his new way in life. He sleeps on it. In the sleep there is this dream, maybe in that twilight zone, you know, REM sleep or whatever it is where reality and sleep and wakefulness are all kind of mixed. But in this there's this dream and an angel speaks to him and says, "Joseph, trust Mary. Her unbelievable story is true. This is about God. Go with it." This child needs a father, a father like you. Mary needs a husband, one like you. Go with it. This child is to be called Emmanuel. God with us. God with us in the midst of complexity and confusion and chaos, when all seems wrong and out of kilter and we don't know where to go or what to do, when there's moral questions and risk questions and difficult questions and the way ahead seems to be blocked by every barrier that can be erected. Trust. Trust in this God and see where it leads. Sometimes in the midst of these impossible questions, a new possibility emerges. One that we could never imagine or believe. But it comes and it comes to us in faith with eyes to see and ears to hear. It emerges. And sometimes this possibility is just to trust that God is with us and will hold us. Much like Joseph, if I go this way, I'm trusting God that you will be there. And that when people attack me or reject me or question me, you won't. And you'll find a way. I don't know what it was like in this story, what Matthew was imagining when he created this story, or what questions it held for his community. This man who has choices to make and ultimately has to let go and trust God. Or this young woman who has questions and confusion and wonder but has to trust God. These ordinary people in the midst of a complex life who give themselves into the grace of God. That really is what Christmas is about. It's not about tinsel and festivities and gifts and all of those sorts of things, all good things. It's not about a day of the year. But it's about faith, hope, and love. It's about trusting in this God that we can't control or see or even fully know, but we can only trust and love. And who will be revealed to us as we follow, as we journey, as we let go, as we find a new way in life. It really is what the world needs. Faith, hope, and love that will transform people and lives and communities and nations and break down the barriers that divide and separate. That will put an end to the violence because we don't need violence to answer our problems. We need love. We need empathy. We need courage, compassion, kindness. We need to work together. This is the way of love, the way of the universe, the way of God. Will we give ourselves up to this way in Christmas and trust God like Joseph? Will we trust God like the sisters? Will we see the miracles and wonders happen in our lives? Miracles are really just these open moments of wonder and awe when God is real and love is true and faith carries us and there is hope and joy and peace. Will you follow in this way?