Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada

The other day my daughter popped by with a present from a friend. The huge box intrigued my three year old grandson. We decided to open it together. Wrapped in newspaper, an angel was the first item to emerge. Then came two sheep and a clay figurine wearing a crown. As the menagerie grew, my grandson kept wondering, "What is it?" I responded with the same curiosity, "I wonder."

When the shepherds, manger and other characters in the story occupied the bulk of the living room floor, we wondered what this story could be about. We took each figure and tried to imagine who they were. The angel came first. "I wonder what this could be." "It's a butterfly," he said. "A butterfly, I wonder if it could be a butterfly." We moved on. He recognized the three robed men as kings. The sheep - well that was easy. Mary and Joseph didn't ring any bells for him - simply a boy and a girl.

Finally he picked up the babe. We wondered who this baby could be. Then his eyes lit and he announced, "I think it's Jesus." (That's when my eyes welled up.) Then the words any Christian grandmother longs to hear, "Grandma, tell me the story."

We started with the angel and Mary and the story unfolded following the familiar trail established by Luke and Matthew.

It was in my grandson's discovery of Jesus that the Christmas story gained new power and meaning. Isn't discovery at the core of our story - the discovery of a pregnancy, the discovery of a new star and the discovery of a child in the most unusual of places?

As the church seeks its way in these new times, we will need that same sense of discovery about who we are and what God is up to in our lives and in the world.

The magi sought the One who can alter the heavens. What they discovered must have come as a surprise - a vulnerable child shivering in the cold.

What we discover about God and ourselves may be equally surprising but may hold the potential to change our world and what we now know as church