Manger means “to eat.” Livestock go there to eat especially in winter. They are out of the elements and the farmer can control them. To them, the manger is life. Our dining room table is our manger. Nourishment and community happens there.

I see mangers on practically every block during the holiday season. Every manger has the same cast. Combinations include two parents, a newborn child, three kings, a shepherd, sheep, camel, cow, and goat. All together, they are a model of what actually took place in Bethlehem.

What is the connection between the manger scene and eating? The central figure is Jesus. Jesus is fed by Mary. The others feed in their way. And the Christ child feeds us.

All through Jesus’ 33 years on Earth, he feeds us word and by example and still today. We are in his manger. Herein lays a universal truth. Every being feeds and is fed. Life goes on.

Eating has been taking place ever since Earth began. Atoms join with other atoms, molecules with molecules; miniscule life forms evolve into complex ones. The modest manger becomes a metaphor for each and every being.

The Christian manger scene is the seminal beginning of Christianity.