Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us”. Matthew 1:23

This season, I would like to share a reading about Christmas from “A Room Called Remember” by Frederick Buechner.

Christmas is not just . . . Scrooge waking up the next morning a changed man. It is not just the spirit of giving abroad in the land with a white beard and reindeer. It is not just the most famous birthday of them all and not just the annual reaffirmation of Peace on Earth that it is often reduced to, so that people of many faiths or no faith can exchange Christmas cards without a qualm. On the contrary, if you do not hear in the message of Christmas something that must strike some as blasphemy and others as sheer fantasy, the chances are you have not heard the message for what it is. Emmanuel is the message in a nutshell, which is Hebrew for “God with us.”

Who is this God and how is he with us? “The high and lofty One who inhabits eternity” is the answer to the first [question].

The One who is with us is the One whom none can look upon because the space-and-time human mind can no more comprehend fully the spaceless, timeless Reality of the One than the eyes of the blind can comprehend light.

……..the claim that Christianity makes for Christmas is that at a particular time and place God came to be with us Himself. When Quirinius was governor of Syria, in a town called Bethlehem, a child was born, who beyond the power of anyone to account for, was the high and lofty One made low and helpless. The One who inhabits eternity comes to dwell in time. The One whom none can look upon and live, is delivered in a stable under the soft, indifferent gaze of cattle. The Father of all mercies puts himself at our mercy.

The child is born, and history itself falls in two . . . “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” Emmanuel, “God with us” . . . may yet be born again even in us.

I pray that you will let the full and amazing meaning of “God with us” inhabit your imaginations and lives this year. As Mary did, let us ponder these things in our hearts.

Pastor Stephanie