A.C. Swinburne was only half right when he lamented the "pale Galilean" had conquered the world -- that it had "grown grey by (his) breath." He has indeed conquered, but the result is not a "grey" world. Rather, it is a world in which broken lives can be mended, the conflicted can find peace, the dispossessed find dignity and a place, the poor a home and needs met. That's the promise that accompanied the birth of [Jesus] in Bethlehem two millennia ago. He came into a time in which the promise of his birth found striking resonance. Perhaps not surprisingly, we still yearn for all of the same needs to be met. The meaning of his birth today is as it was then. He comes to save us from our brokenness and sin, to set us free, to heal us. His birth then was just at the right time. And today, too, its meaning is as timely as ever.

There is something quite strange, too, about the content of the announcement of the birth of Jesus. The gospel accounts -- Matthew and especially Luke -- tell us that he was announced as the bearer of a message of peace. He was coming not as a warrior prince, rather as the "Prince of Peace." Whatever his reign, it would not be spread by means of "carnal weapons," the biblical language for sword and spear. Why should his "peaceful" birth be noted so pointedly?