The Manger is Empty

About fifteen years ago, when I was pastor at the Blue Hill Road Community Church in The Bahamas, I mounted a Christmas display outside the church building. It was a life-size manger scene with hay and still animals, but no Mary, no Joseph, and no baby Jesus. There was only a banner that read, “The Manger Is Empty.”

O my goodness! I received so much feedback that Christmas from fellow ministers, church members, and passersby. “Boy, what you tryin’ to do!?” Some wanted to know what I meant by “the manger is empty.” Some took offense at the banner, believing it to be an anti-Christmas statement; it was not.
My goal in mounting that manger scene was to disturb my members and churchgoers and everyone who saw it. I wanted to challenge them from thinking about Christmas as a fairytale story that we re-enact each year about a baby Jesus. I wanted to remind them that the Jesus who was born in a manger, who walked this earth teaching and healing, who suffered and died and was resurrected, is alive! and is coming again to Earth.

Yes, Jesus is coming again. This is the message of Christmas. Last Sunday, November 27, was the first Sunday in Advent season. To those of us in the Pentecostal tradition, this does not mean much, and I hope this will change. The word advent means coming; and the Advent season is a time of waiting and preparation for the second coming of Jesus. Of course, He’s not coming again as a baby in a manger: He’s coming as King of kings and Lord of all.

I invite you to use the time leading up to Christmas day to prepare your mind and spirit, home and family—your life— for the second coming of the living, grown-up Lord Jesus. Take your attention away from the shopping and cleaning and cooking and partying that can stress us out, and focus on prayer, Bible reading, fellowship, caring and sharing. Read passages from the gospels, especially Matthew, nightly in your home and remind each other that the earthly birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus is no fable; He is alive, and He is coming back. Finally, examine yourself: Do you really believe Jesus will return to Earth one day? Do you want Him to return? When He returns, would He find you waiting and ready? or busy and distracted?

Marana tha! Our Lord is coming!


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