Now & Then focuses on the two major holidays of Christianity – Christmas and Easter. We look at how the story of Christmas and Easter may have been misinterpreted over the years through scripture and cultural understanding. Contains resources and guidance for both middle school and high school groups.This is the Christmas edition. The reason for the season, the joy in our jingle, the hope in dark times – celebrating the birth of Jesus. We have a couple miraculously pregnant, made to travel far from their home, have their baby in less-than-ideal circumstances, get visits from shepherds and magi, and to top it all off, their baby is the Messiah. But what if what we know, all that we remember of Jesus’ birth through the gospels and the retelling year after year, is just our own misunderstanding of what it would have looked like to welcome a sweet, Middle Eastern, Jewish baby into the long line of David?