Lost Jesus

I was in a church meeting yesterday.  Several of the people in the meeting were discussing the nativity scenes in their homes or at the church. I heard more than once that the baby from the nativity was missing.  In one case, the woman's young daughter had taken it to play with, thinking it was a doll.  In another household, the missing Jesus had been replaced with a snow baby.  In one case, someone was piling hay around the manger to keep the baby warm (that one must have been outside - at least, I hope so).

As I was listening, I was thinking -- surely in this there is a blog post!  We talk a lot about missing out on Christmas because we miss its purpose.  Jesus is missing from our own nativity scenes. Beyond that, though, I was interested in the rest of it.  Do we substitute something else to replace Jesus?  Like the snow baby?  Does it work?  Do we sometimes take Jesus out and play with him, like a toy?  Are we so busy piling up the hay that we fail to even see Jesus?

So what do we do?  What is the solution?  I think it's something beyond being less busy and turning on the Christmas carols.  What is Christ calling us to do that we are just playing at, or ignoring or substituting with something else?