god with us

I wonder what the heart of Christmas is for you? Call the Midwife, obviously…

But not just the day itself – the meaning? In an email that Jo and I got this week, Simon Parke says this:

Whatever our personal feelings about this season, created by our experiences down the years, there’s no question in my mind that if there was to be only one celebration in the year, it would be Christmas with its remarkable message: God with us.

Here is the beginning and end of everything; in many ways, nothing more needs be said. In fact, let’s pause for a moment, for – if it’s true – this is no place for words. A few deep breaths at this point in the year might do us some good. God with us.

Jesus comes as Immanuel – God with us. I’ve been thinking about what this doesn’t mean – that before the first Christmas God was somehow absent – separate from the world. Surely God was already in the world – in and through all things – the pulse of life, the source of love, the essence of beauty. Even before people had come up with the word, God was woven through it all.

When Jesus came he revealed what was already true – that God’s love is at the heart of the universe, and that God is intimately part of it all. ‘Don’t say ‘here it is’ or ‘there it is’ Jesus said – ‘the kingdom of God is among you’ – ‘the kingdom of God is within you’.

I used to go to a group where the leader would often talk about this intimacy with God, using words from a poem by Tennyson:

Speak to him, thou, for he hears and Spirit with Spirit can meet – closer he is than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.

Closer than breathing… In our Advent retreat we have been using our breathing as a way of opening up to the presence of God. Yesterday an Advent email from Brian Draper suggested that we use Hope and Peace, and Joy and Love for our breathing prayer – he must have been reading Jo’s words!

That is one way of becoming aware that God is here with us. Another way might be through being immersed in the natural world. Or maybe through our soulful meeting with another person. I read this the other day:

As soon as we recognize each other, it is possible to recognize goodness and love in the precious heart of another person. In the Christian story this is called, rather boldly, a recognition of God.

In Christian language, we have found a place where Christ is revealed. We recognize the mystery of incarnation, a God becoming visible who is present already, within everything – a manifestation in matter, in flesh. The realm of God, invisible, growing within.

The word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory.

You might like to spend a few moments with those words…

God with us

I wonder where we recognise the presence of God already here with us?

I wonder where we might become aware of that presence?

Maybe as we breathe in Hope and Peace and breathe out Joy and Love

Maybe as we recognise the goodness and love in the heart of another person.

Maybe as we recognise that goodness and love within ourselves.

Lord Jesus, you came as a light, and you invite us to believe what you  lived and breathed – the loving presence of our God here with us. Open the eyes of our heart this Christmas to the transforming depth of that truth, as we welcome you once again.