We celebrate Christmas surrounding ourselves with happy celebrations and shared love of family and friends. We eat scrumptious food and exchange presents with one another. We attend festive gatherings and church services. We hear the story of the birth of Christ and/or see portrayals of the manger with Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus.

Our lives are dramatically changed since the birth of Christ and there are many distractions throughout the year. However, at Christmas time, many take pause to reflect on that Holy time in Bethlehem. As children we often wondered about this time in particular because life was extremely difficult for people and we thought how extreme it would be to travel a long distance, a man walking beside a donkey that carried his pregnant wife over rough roads. Many people were traveling to-and-fro because of the census so it is very likely that they met many people on that long, difficult journey. Have you ever wondered about who some of these people may have been? Were they wealthy, poor, honest, thieves, sick, angry? Some of the people were briefly mentioned in the Bible as they played a part in the birth of Christ? We aren’t really told very much about them. For example, the inn keeper. Was he kind? Was he over tired due to all the travelers for the census? What was his inn like? Was he married? Then what was his wife like? What was the stable like? Was it well kept? Was it overcrowded with the animals of the travelers?

We can’t answer any of these questions with certainty, particularly because they didn’t seem essential to the description of the birth of Christ in the Bible. And thus, we try to imagine and we research life during those times. Putting the research and imaginings together, we find ourselves intrigued by our findings. As humans we want to imagine that these human beings weren’t so different from people today. Just, perhaps, living during more difficult times.

Imagine yourself as Joseph or as Mary’ on the trip to Bethlehem. Or imagine yourself as one of the many possibilities of people who encountered the couple during this journey. Mary is very close to her delivery time. Joseph is tired and worried. How would you feel? How would you act? What would you want to say or do? Think about how you react to strangers that you know nothing about? Do you avoid and ignore them? Or do you think your heart would go out to Mary?

These were the types of questions that we struggled with in writing about the individuals and groups in our book that we imagined could very likely have met the Holy couple on the road and also once there in Bethlehem. There was an unbelievable amount of research because we found that as twentieth century writers, we knew very little about daily lives, livelihood, professions, homes, businesses, travel, roads, furniture, rituals, laws, cities, leaders, government, etc. during the time of Christ. That’s why we wrote this book, to invoke interest in those times and revisit the birth of Christ!

Mosaics is available both in book and audio format.

Book form available on Amazon, Mosaics of the First Christmas.

Audio form available at Spotify.com

7/24/24