"God Is With Us"

The time of waiting is coming to an end as we arrive at the date Christians throughout the world celebrate the birth of the one who will liberate us from our darkness: Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God to live and dwell as one of us. For the four weeks of Advent, we've added more and more light around our Advent wreaths. If we've been paying attention, we've been told to prepare for this arrival... purify our consciences... and make way for this newborn to touch us in ways beyond our wildest dreams.

And that, I think, is the part that may be the most mysterious, and even unsettling for us. Newborns often change the lives of their parents. Lots of my friends who have had babies must turn their attention to this new life... losing hours of sleep and declining social invites because they must tend to their child, and keep their baby fed, bathed, and safe. The new parents end up dropping out of 'the scene', as it were, because their priorities have shifted. Suddenly, living isn't all about their own gratification and doing what they want. They are now responsive to someone else. At times, I will hear in the voice of a new father or mother a reluctant sigh when they explain why they can't come to a party, or why one of them will come early and then the other will come later. This new life is making them work a little harder, and they have to plan their lives a little differently. Still, this child brings them equal amounts of joy, and all the adjustments and changes in their lives seem to pale in comparison to the love of having this new person as part of their own family.

This would seem to be the case with the birth of the Christ child. Yes, we can speculate on how it changed Mary and Joseph's life, and we have a recounting of that in Scripture. But I'm more interested in how we are doing with the arrival of Emmanuel in the here and now.

For many weeks, we've been exposed in one way or another to the tune, "O Come O Come Emmanuel". And in that song, we are clamoring to have God be with us and we are to "Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel" And we should rejoice! This is good news. And with this good news, we, the recipients of this newborn Prince of Peace, will find that if we have truly welcomed this new life into our present-day ways... well, we might find ourselves having to make some adjustments in how we've been living. Perhaps, we start living with a belief that having breath in our bodies is the sign that we're OK. Perhaps, we take stock of the people around us, and realize that they are deserving of the same respect and dignity that we want accorded to us. Perhaps, rather than throwing bottles or orange peels into the trash, we recycle or compost. Perhaps, when we see excesses of clothing in our closets, we'll pack them up and take them to a shelter. Perhaps, for once, we don't live for ourselves, but realize that we are part of a human community and a portion of a creation that is loved deeply by this child we're welcoming into our world. See, when God becomes a focus of the attention, change happens.

I wonder if this is when some would-be parents start having second thoughts. Sure, the newborn baby in the manger is a sight-and-a-half to behold. But will this newborn really demand change in habits and behaviors? Will this baby require our attention? Is this really what we want to think about as we light candles and sing a lullaby such as "Silent Night"?

Probably not. And yet, the demand will be there. This child requires love and attention from all of us, no matter who we are or who we are "in communion" with at the moment. Loving this child is what we've been preparing ourselves for with each week of Advent. Hopefully, we've got the room prepared.

All the candles are lit now. The birthing time is here. Let that new light shine out of us into a world desperately in need of more brightness, and know that God is with us, again.