God with Us

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us)." Matthew 1:23, ESV

This Advent season has been different for me. Usually the Sunday evening Advent Candle lighting is ritual, more for keeping a tradition alive than anything. But this Advent, the readings and the significance of this family tradition meant more. The music I've been listening to has not been the music I've always listened to in the past. I've discovered new (at least new to me) music that has been just as beautiful and filled with meaning as the music I've typically listened to. 

If anything, this Christmas feels a little unsettled, and yet, at the same time, comforting. Unsettled in that I don't have that same sense of Christmas routine that I usually feel and have felt, even during the COVID Christmases. At the age of 61 my body seems to be saying "Ok, time to FEEL your age!" My wife's sister is staying with us as she recovers from surgeries and injuries due to an auto accident. And while last weekend we had Christmas with my wife's daughter and her partner, and my daughter, it was not at our house but a Airbnb that they had rented for the weekend.

But there is comfort in all of this, for the comfort is that while all this is going on around me, I feel that I am understanding more the true nature of Christmas: that God came down to earth as a little baby. 

This mystery of Christmas, the idea that God, the boundless uncontained God, would put aside His nature to become a baby born in a stable still confounds me, but I feel that I understand it more. The all powerful God is a helpless baby, dependent upon his mother for food and warmth. Born in poverty. Born a refugee. Yet, there He was. And who are the first witnesses of this birth? Not the leaders or royalty of that time, but lowly shepherds. God chose the least to be the first to hear of the Good News - that "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." - Luke 2:11, ESV. 

I also feel that now I see this time as two seasons, not just Christmas Day. There is Advent, the time of preparation. And I feel that I have been preparing my heart for His coming. Christmas starts today, and goes until Epiphany on January 6th. We are now in the Twelve Days of Christmas! This is a time of celebration, not just on Christmas Day, but every day. And I think I've got that now. 

Merry Christmas, and may the Spirit of He who lay in the manger be with you now and always. 

Soli Deo Gloria