Christmas Meditation: On The Nativity

Observe the nativity story first-hand in this guided meditation that will privilege you to see and know the birth of Christ, and to engage with it in a more immediate way. It will help you know that the biblical characters were human like us all.

Transcript

So this meditation is a meditation on the nativity story.

It's a guided meditation and you just simply listen and involve your imagination and your senses as much as you can in order to immerse yourself in this scene that will give you a sense of connection with God as well as a sense of hope and gratitude.

And so lower your gaze or close your eyes and just take a few deeper slower breaths.

And as you set the scene it's important to know that you don't need to be historically and archaeologically and geographically correct.

You can use your imagination,

You might even find there are modern elements in this scene.

But the idea is that you're engaged as much as you can be.

And right now you're on a hillside,

You're on the outskirts of a town named Bethlehem which is in the Judean desert.

And it's late afternoon,

It's been a warm day and you can feel the heat of the day is still in the ground and you can feel it on your skin.

And a little way off,

A couple of hundred yards or so you can see the town that's Bethlehem and you can see the sun setting behind it.

You can hear the faint noise of activity as a town settles itself for the evening.

You see people,

Lots of people,

An extraordinary number of people in fact,

Going about the streets.

You hear the sound of street sellers with their cries,

See some carts rumbling along these streets.

You can make out the odd fire,

See the smoke rising as people are starting to cook their evening food.

You see some torches being lit,

Carried along,

Some of them stopping outside doors.

And then from your vantage point,

You can see on the road that snakes up to Bethlehem,

A couple travelling very,

Very slowly.

There's still a way off,

They're quite a way down this hill.

It's a man on foot and a woman sitting side-saddle on a donkey you think.

The donkey looks laboured in its steps,

The man looks more urgent as he leads the donkey and the woman,

You can't tell,

But she seems absorbed.

The man now goes the donkey upward.

It's like they know that the town is settling,

They know that there are many people in the town tonight and you sense the man's urgency that they need to find somewhere to stay.

And you know it's the night of the census,

When everyone has to return to their hometown to be accounted for under Roman rule.

And you're watching them,

Perhaps you're concerned for them,

Perhaps you're intrigued by them.

Just take note of your own reaction as you watch them,

As you follow them with your gaze.

And then you see,

They arrive at the outskirts of this town and there's a well there.

Perhaps you've walked so you can be closer to them,

Perhaps you're quite near them now.

Perhaps you can smell the sweat of the donkey,

Perhaps you can see the eyes of the man,

Perhaps you can see the woman.

She seems to be breathing quite hard.

She has her eyes closed.

You realise as she's holding her stomach that she's with child.

She's off the donkey now.

The man set her on the ground,

He's given the beast some drinks and water and a cup for her which she takes with both hands and drinks carefully in between the laboured breaths.

And then he runs off and she's focused.

He comes back to check on her and runs off again.

He seems panicked.

You can feel his panic.

And yet he seems to be panicked about the woman,

Maybe his wife,

You imagine.

It's his wife.

But she doesn't seem panicked,

She's just focused.

He comes back quickly this time and he's calling her name,

He's saying Mary,

Mary you can do it,

It's not far,

It's just here,

It's just around the wall,

There's a place for us.

And you see him struggling to lift her to her feet and you can see the effort it takes her as she focuses.

But they manage somehow and they leave the donkey tied up where it is and they walk,

Stumble,

I don't know,

10,

20 metres along the wall,

Round the side of it and it seems like it's part of the hill.

You follow quietly behind but this big door,

A stable light door that's open,

It's like it belongs to the house but it's part of the hill,

Like a cave hollows out in the hillside and the man opens this door and takes her inside and you quietly follow.

And a servant girl comes in with a torch and a bucket of water and some cloths and you can see that there's,

There are animals here,

There are sheep and cows just quietly resting in one corner on the straw.

You can see rough sacks that have some grain in them.

You see one side of this cave like dwelling is stone wall that's been built and the rest of it is earth that's been dug out and the torch throws odd shadows on the ceiling.

And the man is trying to make the woman comfortable as she lies down,

He's put a sack behind her and lots of straw and she's looking,

Focused but in pain.

Her breathing's really laboured,

You hear it,

You hear the animals as well around her in the same place.

You realise that she's going to give birth with these animals around and there's a smell.

The smell of animals,

Their sweat,

Their excretions,

Their coat and here's this woman in an animal like state and yet dignified,

Focused,

Calm although she's in pain.

And the man stands back away by her head and the servant slightly blocks your view but you can see her face in the dim light and you know the servant can see the head because she says,

I can see,

I can see,

It's coming,

It's coming.

And the man,

He encourages her,

He says Mary you can do it,

It's coming,

He's coming,

He's coming and her breathing is heavy but rhythmic and the man is wiping her brow,

Reassuring her as she's groaning,

This deep groan and then suddenly this huge groan comes from deep within her almost tearing her body and you know that a child is tearing her body as he comes into the world and then,

And then her whole being heaves and collapses and relaxes and the man says he's here Mary,

He's here and the maid servant takes this tiny baby and is wrapping him in some kind of linen and she hands this baby,

This tiny thing to the mother who just holds him with her eyes closed and then she opens them and gazes at the child and she whispers but you can hear Jesus,

Jesus you're here and you take this all in,

You've been privileged to see the birth of the God child.

What do you feel right now?

As you watch the mother and child in intimate connection,

You've been privileged to be part of this.

Maybe you just want to observe this scene that you've been part of,

Maybe you might want to talk to God or Jesus about this birth scene that took place 2000 years ago in a little dusty town,

This child born to refugees in a sense,

In a dwelling that was for animals.

So just ponder these things and whenever you're ready you can end the meditation.

Reviews

Wonderful, paced just right so my imagination could picture everything. Very sacred and moving!!

Simply beautiful. It filled me with such joy and light and made me connect with the Nativity in a new way. Thank you so much x

Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for this Christmas meditation.

Finally, a Christmas meditation about Jesus - the entire reason for why we have this season in the first place. Thank you!

Very sweet narrative meditation. Thank you 😊 and Merry Christmas!

Incredible imagery. Makes you realize how raw and real that experience had to have been for the two parents involved?

Lovely 😊

Simply beautiful! Thank you!

So beautiful, thankyou for transporting me to the Christ child birth. 🙏🏻❤🎄

Beautiful meditation. Thank you. ❤️

Beautiful meditation. Vouce, music, words.

Beautiful, the perfect way to end this Chistmas Night. Made me cry to imagine such a human and vulnerable scene.

Exquisite spiritual experience! Brought tears to my eyes to imagine the miracle of Jesus nativity scene. Thank you for such an intimate start to Christmas Eve! God bless you

Shew! I felt very emotional during this beautiful and captivating visualization❣💙 Thank you very much for sharing this with the world. 🙏🏻💗

Lovely. Helped me access my imagination this Advent season. Thank you.

So beautiful. Thank you for immersing me in the birth story of the Christ-child. Stunning.