Nativity: A symbol of home and family

Melissa Logsdon – December 23, 2025 1 Comment

This year I didn’t set up any Christmas decorations in my home.  We will be traveling over Christmas, so it seemed reasonable to keep the decor in storage.  

Overall, it’s been a gift to me to NOT do the work of setting up and putting away all the Christmas decor. And, I suspect for my husband, Steve, who has the task of hauling the totes down from the attic each year! 

I’ve still had the spirit of Christmas, of peace and joy in my heart, without a tree and lights and all that decor…despite what every Christmas movie would lead us to believe! 

However, I realized I have missed having a nativity set out to enjoy. Maybe without being consciously aware of its impact, each time I actually look at a nativity it feels, not just nostalgic, but also centering. My heart, set back a-right. Can you relate? Maybe you appreciated and reflected by the nativity sets Renee put up on the communion tables this Advent season?

For me, I found myself painting the basic nativity image: Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus, together in a shelter. I pondered the sense of home and family represented in this simple nativity image.

In our Advent series, we’ve been talking about home/homelessness. During this advent season, I’ve been pondering Joseph’s role in providing home in the Christmas narrative. Joseph listened to God, he had many dreams where God gave him direction for providing a family to Mary, to Jesus, and direction for where to live, to provide safety and home for them. Joseph and Mary’s obedience to God at key moments make up the Christmas narrative. They lived lives of faith and obedience that Jesus witnessed as he grew up in their home.

Through Joseph’s obedience, he provided family and home for Mary and Jesus.

Through Jesus’ obedience, he provided family and home for Mary and Joseph…and all of us! 

What Joseph was able to do in a temporary way, Jesus was able to do in a forever way: providing a place of belonging — for safety, provision, and love — for family and home.

And so, this Christmas, I am grateful for Joseph and Mary’s faith and obedience modeled, and for Jesus’ faith and obedience, creating a place of belonging for them, for me, for you: a forever family, a forever home with God.

May our hearts be filled with gratitude and a sense of shalom, now in part, and expectant joy in the fullness of what is yet to come! I’m sure in 2026 we will continue to share more thoughts on this forever home Jesus has provided for us in God’s loving presence!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! —Melissa Logsdon, NCF Associate Pastor