Christmas is a time of moving and a time of standing still. So many people are on the move over these few days, making every effort to be at home with their families for the holiday season.
And at home, everyone wants the familiarity and the comforts of the Christmas tradition: in many homes things will be done as they have always been done - the same food, the same drinks, the same songs, even the same presents and the same repeats on television.
If the first Christmas happened in our world this week, the angels would be criticised for breaking tradition by singing a new song to the shepherds on the hillside. But nothing is static in this world. Even Christmas traditions had to be innovative at some time, to the point that they threatened the old and the familiar. Christmas ought to be a time of being open to the new, the inspiring, the innovative, and to those who are on the move.
Movement is at the heart of the Christmas story, with characters who are on the move ceaselessly: God coming from heaven to earth; Mary travelling to visit her sister Elizabeth; Mary and Joseph who must move from Nazareth to Bethlehem; the shepherds hurrying to see the new-born child; Wise Men who are following the star; and eventually, Mary and Joseph, who are forced to move to Egypt with the Christ child. The Christmas story is never a comfortable story about traditions that must be kept and honoured in the same way, year after year. It is always a story that challenges the status quo and that makes us ask questions about why people are on the move and how best can we respond to their needs and demands.
We live in a world that is constantly changing and making new demands on us. In the past year, the census returns have shown how the face of Ireland is changing with sizeable ethnic minorities and major heaves in the religious make-up of our society. Globally, wars in the Middle East and violence and poverty in Africa this year have continued to create vast numbers of refugees and migrants. In the coming year, the Irish Presidency of the European Union will have to deal with major issues of change and movement as new member states join the EU and many more people become entitled to move around within the frontiers of a Europe that must never be allowed to become "Fortress Europe".
If the first Christmas happened in our world this week, Mary and Joseph would be barred from entering Bethlehem, where once again Christmas celebrations have been curtailed. They would have a difficult time fleeing Herod or his malevolent equivalents, finding refugee status difficult to claim wherever they arrived. At Christmas time in Ireland we need to be reminded once again of the need for change. And we need to be reminded of the needs of those on the move - the homeless, our emigrants, the refugees, the migrants and the asylum seeker - for their needs are at the heart of the very first Christmas story.