Advent: Day 3 - In the beginning...

The Christmas story often begins with Mary and Joseph and an Angel of the Lord...but doesn't it really begin right at the beginning? 

With Genesis? 

For there are no people to be beloved of God and saved by God without Adam and Eve. 

Without Genesis, there are no Mary and Joseph, no Elizabeth and Zacharias and John the Baptist, no Apostles, no...us!

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." - Genesis 1:26-28

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." - Genesis 2:7-8

"And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 

And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." - Genesis 2:18-25

This week, this first week of Advent, I have always brought out my manger and my Mary and Joseph figures. I place the manger in the spot where my tree will go...Mary and Joseph will slowly journey to the manger over the course of the month. 

When my son was little, Mary and Joseph started at the front door and moved a few feet forward every night, making a long and circuitous route thru our apartment. 

Now that we are all grown-ups, Mary and Joseph start at the kitchen and move each Sunday. 

Of course, now that we have a new grandbaby, I imagine that in a few years we will revert to our more child-friendly practice!

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