Welcome to this time, a time when a story is reborn in us,
a story about a child of hope.
A cast of characters wonderful and ordinary:
angels, magi, shepherds, animals—and one refugee couple greet us.
Our stage is not a grand ballroom or a glittering Hallmark holiday town,
but a simple shelter and a glimmering star.

For hope cannot be ordered online or put under a tree.
Hope is not found in the expense of your decorations
or the hours you spend on the Christmas pudding.
Hope resides in the promise that love can always expand,
always meet us,
always teach us
to cast down the mighty, raise up the broken,
and rekindle the truth of our interdependence.

Whether or not you believe in the miracle, the message of the story is this:
Hope is born for us in every age—for we, too, are the wonderful and ordinary:
angels and magi, shepherds and refugees of our time.
In this and every age,
the miracle resides in us.