6 January 2005

We will start from "In the End, The Beginning"



'In every child the messiah can be born', says a Jewish proverb. So every child deserves respect. It is encompassed by the magic of the messianic hope. At Christmas, Christians celebrate the festival of the birth of the Redeemer in 'the child in the manger' in Bethlehem. What are we really doing then? We are celebrating the encounter with the almighty God in the weak and helpless child Jesus. But this presupposes a tremendous proceeding: the Creator of heaven and earth, whom even the heaven of heavens cannot contain, becomes so humble and small that in this child Jesus he is beside us and lives among us.



Becoming humble and small seems like something we all try to avoid at times. We do that by making too much of ourselves or making too little of ourselves. God becomes human. God becomes the a part of the fullness of humanity in all its glory so that God would be known not as something or someone out there...but here...right where you are. For me, becoming humble and small means that I think enough of myself to let go and take the risk to come and know you no matter what it might mean for me. That is a dangerous proposition because in coming to know you and be known by you, things may change for me and you...and we can never tell what that change will be. When we look at the Jesus story, it is always with the view of what we learn about God through hearing about Jesus. Sometimes I like to think that God had to learn a whole bunch about what it is to be...not to create - but to be...human. We can only imagine what that learning was.



Connection: What would it take to come to know someone more than we might know that person right now? What might we gain...what might we lose?



Lord of the Nativity, by breaking into our lives you break open what it is to live in the presence of the Reign of God taking up residence in our place and time. Turn us so that we will face those around us and thus find in them another way to be like the Christ who comes into all of our humanity. Amen.