Today I saw true living icons of the nativity. You think I’m kidding… I was on either my second or my third trip to Pflugerville -- don’t even ask -- when I realized that right before my very eyes were living reminders of the true meaning of Christmas. The homeless, shamed, illegitimate were right there on the side of the road reminding me of two things: 1) the scandal that the whole thing was in society. People like to talk about that a lot for some reason. And 2) the shame and danger of being unwed and with child, the fear of giving birth, the life and death of it all. And right before my very eyes I saw people hoping to make it another day on the streets. In their eyes I see the shame of being exiled from regular society, the near panic of trying to find a place to exist in a world that says you can’t be here… no, not there either. But, icons don’t just give us a window into another world. If that’s all they did people would be crowded around icons of Jesus all day. Icons also look back. I was seen today. I was seen by a couple of people who know me. Know I’m good for a buck, I always have food, time to talk. And there were more whom I’d never seen before. You might think that their gaze would condemn my relative affluence, my ease. But, no. I was embraced, greeted joyously. Today I did see Jesus -- not in the church which won’t have me but in the Christ who seeks me. Happy Christmas.