I mentioned yesterday that we had set up our first-ever outdoor nativity scene. Very simple.

You may have seen that Pope Francis is encouraging people to display such a scene. You don’t have to be Catholic to appreciate what he said. Here are some snippets:

[The scene] is a genuine way of communicating the gospel, in a world that sometimes seems to be afraid of remembering what Christmas really is and eliminates Christian symbols, only to retain those drawn from a banal, commercial imagination.

I wish to encourage the beautiful family tradition of preparing the nativity scene in the days before Christmas, but also the custom of setting it up in the workplace, in schools, hospitals, prisons and town squares. It is my hope that this custom will never be lost and that, wherever it has fallen into disuse, it can be rediscovered and revived.

It shows God’s tender love by placing the mystery of the divine within an ordinary setting…The lowly setting of Christ’s birth summons us to follow him along the path of humility, poverty and self-denial that leads from the manger of Bethlehem to the cross.

I was encouraged while I was delivering invitations door-to-door for an upcoming neighborhood Christmas gathering: two of my neighbors commented specifically on the manger scene. “I like your display.” I responded, “It’s the message we wanted to convey.”

In short, displaying the nativity is one more way to carry on the “resistance” we’ve been discussing. Or, to use other terminology: it’s another way to create a “holy moment.”

It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful. (2 Corinthians 4.6, MSG)

This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2.12, MSG)