undoubtedly, the birth took place
      in nazareth not bethlehem and 
           egypt lies way, way too far away
 
for an additional journey (spoiler,
      they didn’t take the first one.) 
           and the birth took place at home

(really? who knows?) not in a stinky 
      stable although, there were smells 
           there, too, for sure. “then what 

about the three wise men and the 
      shepherds and the cattle and 
           sheep, etc., etc., etc.?” asked the 

king of siam (which he really, un-
      doubtedly, didn’t do, but the etc. 
           stuff works for effect); and so, the 

whole thing is more like a divine memoir 
      than literal history because some-
           one said, “don’t ever take a memoir 

as gospel (that’s funny), because it 
      isn’t objective. it’s all from a subjective 
           perspective,” which of necessity 

it is. so do we toss the baby with 
      the bathwater, and that, undoubtedly, 
           wasn’t very clean either? are you kid-

ding? that makes the whole thing 
      that much more incarnational be-
           cause there was wisdom from the 

past and wish fulfillment in the his-
      torical present (and don’t forget the 
           contributions from the historical future) 

and very human dreams and you 
      could almost hear the storytellers 
           and scribes and poets saying that 

there is faith and hope in the mystery 
      of birth in the dank, darkness shed-
           ding a bit of light on the eternal mys-

tery of Love, and why in the world 
      wouldn’t preachers and teachers 
           want their parishioners and students 

to ponder a much richer, deeper, more 
      mysterious meaning to the sturdy, 
           middle-eastern fabric of a tale of Truth?