As we enter this Christmas season, this time when we celebrate the presence and power of God being born as a baby in a feeding trough, I think it’s important for us to step back and reflect on where we've seen God being born in your life.
Where have the blessings shown themselves? Where have you seen hope in your life or in our world? Where has peace made its presence known? How has love grown in you over the past year?
Or maybe you ask where the blessings are because you don’t feel particularly blessed. Hope is in short supply, and when you look out at the world you see pointless division and injustice. The economy hasn’t rebounded, and lots of people are out of work. Peace has been elusive because of relationships that have broken down. It may be hard to grow in love because you’re having trouble loving yourself.
This Christmas is an opportunity to reclaim the hope, peace, joy, and love that is promised from the Christ Child, the one who arrived on this planet completely vulnerable, because the God that was in him knew that power lies in vulnerability, especially the vulnerability of human connection.
This human connection helps us grow into who God has created us to be. It strips away all the world’s expectations and demands, and shows us the strength of just being human. God arrived in Jesus so that God could experience deep human intimacy. And from that human intimacy, Christ saved the world in love.