The birth of Jesus is the epitome of incarnation (God with us). God is love and present in all things. Jesus, as God’s presence, points us to see God all around us: in ourselves, in one another, in nature, in art, in beauty. Christmas is a time when we celebrate that God is here and embrace the new world that God is bringing into being: a dream made real in the birth of a baby in Bethlehem.
We talk and sing about the incarnation at Christmas as if it was something obvious and prosaic rather than inexplicable and paradoxical. As we try to understand what it all means we invariably get to the point of realizing this is where rationalizing ends and surrendering to mystery begins. There is an extravagance—even a recklessness—to the love of God revealed in the Christmas story, which elicits the same kind of abandonment in response.
We talk and sing about the incarnation at Christmas as if it was something obvious and prosaic rather than inexplicable and paradoxical. As we try to understand what it all means we invariably get to the point of realizing this is where rationalizing ends and surrendering to mystery begins. There is an extravagance—even a recklessness—to the love of God revealed in the Christmas story, which elicits the same kind of abandonment in response.
Hope is not wishful thinking about the future that potentially leads to disappointment, but an internal acceptance and commitment to God’s love being present in the here and now. This realization changes the way we see life and leads to a different kind of future. Christmas is a celebration of the hope of all hopes.
Hope is not wishful thinking about the future that potentially leads to disappointment, but an internal acceptance and commitment to God’s love being present in the here and now. This realization changes the way we see life and leads to a different kind of future. Christmas is a celebration of the hope of all hopes.