Advent
I – 2018
What are we to
make of the Christmas story? The story seems quaint and romantic to many. A
couple seeks shelter in a city filled with travelers responding to an edict to
participate in a census. The woman is pregnant of unusual circumstances having
been told she will bear a special child. This year I want to explore some of
the possible meanings we might gain from this simple, yet profound, story.
The meaning of
the Christmas story is that God has come to live among us. God has inhabited humanity.
God has taken on human form and lived among humanity.
One of the
stories of Jesus, the God-man, is a story of living in a wilderness. We all
live in a wilderness –
a wilderness of
our own making,
a wilderness of
pain,
a wilderness of
unfulfilled hopes,
a wilderness
broken dreams,
a wilderness of unsatiated appetites,
a wilderness of
empty promises,
a wilderness of rusted-out
possessions,
a wilderness of
wearied flesh.
a wilderness of
out-of-date fashions,
a wilderness of
sleepless night,
a wilderness of
wearied flesh,
a wilderness of
lost loves.
The story of
Christmas is the story of a God who knows what it is like to live in our
wilderness.
The search is
over. Julian of Norwich is right: “Jesus is all that shall be saved and all that
shall be saved shall be found in Jesus.”
I invite you to
come to the manger and see, not a baby, but a man who knows your story because
he lived your story. He wants to write a new story.
Ronald Friesen ©
2017
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