Expect The ExtraordinarySample

Expect miracles

I suppose things didn't feel too "Christmassy’" for Mary and Joseph. 

Jesus was born into poverty in an unfit shelter. His parents were on the move, with no one to take them in. It’s so like many of the people we’re serving across the globe. 

He was marked out for an assassination attempt, because of the threat he appeared to pose to the people in power. It led a wave of ethnic cleansing. His parents became refugees to escape.

So the Christmas story wasn’t at all festive.

Jesus' mother was young, vulnerable and, I suspect, frightened – like many of the girls I meet in the refugee camps. 

So, if you’re looking for God this Christmas, remember one thing: he is to be found in the midst of the crisis-affected and broken. In the very places where things are so desperate that miracles seem the least likely. 

What if tonight there were angels hovering over the refugee camps? A vision saved for only the least assuming to see. Wouldn’t that be just like God?

Stella Chatham, Tearfund