No doubt you are well into the Christmas spirit by now – there being only three weeks till the big day – and your life has been blessed (inundated?) by the music, decorations, shopping, parties, TV movies, etc. heralding its advent.
The Christian season of Advent – the four Sundays and in-between weekdays before Christmas – began this past Sunday. As if we aren’t feeling enough pressure from our ‘to-do’ lists, Advent encourages us to make time and space in our lives to ponder the deeper spiritual meanings of the season.
Maybe an easy way to put it is: Advent asks us whether we would prefer to have our Christmas defined by Walt Disney merchandise or the birth of a baby in a manger more than 2,000 years ago?
Is it even possible to fight the proverbial commercialization of Christmas and get something more meaningful from it? Is there anything to be derived from the traditional albeit unbelievable story of God sending His Son to be born in a manger?
There sure would be if it actually wasn’t unbelievable. If there really is a Creator God (and what logic can explain the beauty, precision and immensity of the universe without one), how would He communicate to His puny little people?
God did create us capable of pondering meaning and truth and love, capable of relating to Him in an intelligent and meaningful way. But still, He is the Almighty Creator who made the Pacific Ocean and the Himalayan Mountains, who calibrated the force of gravity and Einstein’s (actually His) theory of relativity, and fine-tuned the life-sustaining solar system.
If this God had something really important to tell His human creatures how could He have done it? How could He, in all of His incomprehensible magnificence, talk to us without overwhelming us with the immensity of His being?
When you look at it this way it isn’t that easy, is it? It’s like a parent trying to communicate with their two-year-old – the parent has way more words to say and love to express than the two-year-old is able to absorb and understand. So the parent keeps it simple: lots of hugs and kisses, and simple messages of guidance and direction.
So God took a simple, subtle approach: instead of shock and awe, a little newborn baby that grew up to be a low-key itinerant preacher and healer who avoided publicity and renown. But the heart of the story is that God came:
All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel” (which means “God with us”). (Matthew 1:22-23)
The same Old Testament prophet Isaiah also recorded God’s promise to come: “See, the Lord God comes … He will feed his flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.” (Isaiah 40:10-11)
In the Christian faith tradition this belief is essential: God does not wait to be discovered but initiates and pursues self-disclosure and relationship. God comes to us and tries to show us His love and His desire to be in relationship with us.
And Christmas is the high point of this. God chooses to come like never before or since – in person, Emmanuel. God takes on a humble non-threatening human form to be able to live intimately among us and help us understand everything we need to know about Him, especially that He loves us beyond measure and desires for us to live as His children always and forever.
Of course these beliefs are not scientific facts even if billions of Christians have considered them the greatest truths ever. Any life that lives only by things that are rationally intelligible is an impoverished life indeed. Such a life could not include love, music, art, gazing at the moon and stars, celebrating Christmas, faith, etc.
Do you want to know God, or know Him better? My suggestion is to never unhook your quest from your rational faculties, but also do not limit yourself to them. And be readily willing to go to places of wonder and awe where you are drawn out beyond the limits of your rationality.
There is no better way or time to do this than Christmas. Especially at this time of year most of us feel a tug at our heartstrings – a not-so-gentle yearning that maybe (we hope?) there really is more to life and existence.
Spend some time with children, or even better, work at making this season a most special time for children, and if you’re fortunate their awe and wonder will be contagious and you will ‘catch’ it. Let the stories, songs, lights, presents, goodwill, etc. help you transcend the mundane to places of sublime where you will find God waiting.
Perhaps read the Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke, or go to a Christmas Eve/morning service in a local church. Open the door of your life to see if the loving, graceful God who came in the stable crib might come in to you.
He will!
I wish you Merry Christmas and Happy Emmanuel!