God is with US
This
week we hear the Christmas story as told by Matthew. It is told from Joseph’s
point of view (Luke is from Mary’s) and is very different from Luke. Compare
them and see if you can work out why they are so different.
Matthew
works hard to mirror the story of Jesus with that of Moses and of the people of
Israel in general. And he uses Isaiah 7:14 to explain his name – God is with
us! God is with us is not some escapist notion that allows us to pretend that
everything is or should be wonderful. Tish Harrison
Warren writes, “Our response to the wrongness of the world (and of
ourselves) can often be an unhealthy escapism, and we can turn to the holidays
as anesthesia from pain as much as anything else. We need collective space, as
a society, to grieve—to look long and hard at what is cracked and fractured in
our world and in our lives. Only then can celebration become deep,
rich and resonant, not as a saccharine act of delusion but as a defiant act of
hope.”[1]
This
Christmas we are invited to deeply know that God is with us in all our fear and
pain, our loss and grief. God is with you, and God is with me, and God is with
us all collectively inviting us into defiant acts of hope and love.
This
week our theme is love. During this week I invite you to take time at the end
of each day to give thanks for ways God with us has both brought love into your
day; and through you brought love into the lives of others. I also invite you
to reflect on what has led you away from love.
[1] Tish
Harrison Warren, “Want the Get into the Christmas Spirit? Face the Darkness,” New
York Times, Nov. 30, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/opinion/sunday/christmas-season-advent-celebration.html
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