B&C Mechanical Services, LLC

I have found it helpful to recast my imagery of the Nativity. Despite twinkling lights and creepy Santas or images of some Norwegian family posing as Joseph, Mary and Jesus in precious moments-like light...we celebrate the Almighty God declaring the ancient incarceration of humanity by sin, death and forces of evil to be time for liberation. He sent His only son as an invasion and redeeming force to shatter the stronghold on mankind. The invasion was met with mass opposition (Herod even wiped out a generation from a town to block the beachhead assault) and required incredible sacrifice of life. Christmas is like us celebrating the D-Day of God saying "it is finished, the end starts here/now" in a storyline that crescendos at Easter. We sing "silent night" and sweet songs, but the cosmic theater was in full blitzkrieg mode (1 John 3:8, Hebrews 2:14-15). Angels singing "glory to God" and "peace on earth" would have been about as incredible as French families finding leaflets of propaganda landing on their yards by Allied Forces saying "we're coming - you're going to be rescued." Then to think that the vertical advent of Jesus to earth to save us then translates into us being the horizontal advent as sent out ones (John 17:18)! Don't buy the commercial imagery for the Nativity. Let the gravity of the story captivate your imagination in proper context! In 2000 I met a WW2 vet, Al Gliemi. He was starting a business (at 79 yrs of age!) and hired me to help him. When I discovered his bronze star and multiple medals I finally got him to unpack his experience in the Battle of the Bulge, taking Berlin and some high-stakes stages of the European theater of WW2. I remember a striking conversation when I asked him what was the most perilous part of his wartime service. He pondered it..."When V-E Day came and we thought we had #victory. The enemy stopped firing mortars and tank shots, but we had to do room to room searches of every building in cities...I lost more soldiers to sneak attacks by lingering enemies lurking in closets and shadows weeks after 'victory' was declared than in the formal battles the weeks prior. Many don't realize how dangerous the illusion of 'victory' can be and how much work it takes to walk out and truly deliver on peace." I find it very helpful to think about the cosmic liberation effort the #Nativity and Advent truly represents. It was so dangerous that just like at Normandy, hundreds of innocent boys were killed in Bethlehem by a threatened regime. It is good to realize it was a high-stakes rescue mission plotted out for thousands of years to set humanity free from sin and oppression. Christmas is D-Day. Easter is V-E Day. Sin seized humanity in the Garden, the Father sent the Son to ransom us and liberate the species. We get to be part of the post-Victory restoration and reconstruction movement! That's all part of #Christmas!