Hidden Christmas? Really? It’s hard to call Christmas hidden when stores have been stocking wrapping paper, garland, and light-up reindeer since the middle of October!

Well, while the commercial side of Christmas can hardly be considered hidden, the message of Jesus we celebrate comes to us in all sorts of unexpected — hidden — ways. It comes to us in ancient prophecies of the coming of God’s anointed one, the Messiah. It comes to us through those included in the genealogies of Jesus’ birth. It comes to us in the way Joseph and Mary were invited into the Story, in ways I’m sure they could hardly fathom. It comes to us through great people and small people, all united in worship as they greet a newborn who is the rightful king of the world.

And, perhaps not unexpectedly, we find our stories connecting with these stories in, well, unexpected ways. Flawed people included in God’s story. Great and small worshiping side by side. The rightful king of the world has come, and he is not hidden!