Luke 2.12
This will be a sign for you: you will find a child
wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”
John 6.35
Jesus said to them, “I
am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever
believes in me will never be thirsty.
The blessed day has finally arrived! Our Prince of
Peace, Word made flesh, Emmanuel, God
with us – has once again entered the world and our hearts anew. Praise be
to God!
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2.6-8)
My prayer for each of us this Christmas is that we all seek to fill our hearts with the humility and love of Christ, so that we might be fulfilled with the power of God’s presence dwelling within and among us – this day, and every day. Amen.
Merry Christmas!
Rev. Becky Walker, Associate Minister, Minister of Adult Education
But what does it mean that God chose to become
present here among us, in the flesh…in a manger? Adam Hamilton points out two
compelling reasons. First, Jesus’ birth in a common feeding trough reminds us
of his humility. As the Christ Hymn of Philippians states, he
“who, though he
was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2.6-8)
From there, Hamilton introduces another thought
about Christ’s humble beginnings: the manger is the place where God’s creatures
come to eat. The Gospel of Luke emphasizes that Christ came to save the least,
the last, and the lost. The Gospel of John tells us that Christ is the “bread
of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.” If Christ came to give new
life to those who hunger, thirst, struggle, and suffer…then shouldn’t we, as
his disciples, do the same?
A friend of mine often says that we all have a
“God-shaped hole” in our hearts that we try to fill with all sorts of things –
money, possessions, career, status, addictions, and so on. If we allow it,
Christmas can become a dangerous temptation to fill our hearts and homes with more
“stuff.” But perhaps the thing we really hunger for is a true connection to
Christ – which calls us out of our comfort zones and into a world in need of
the power, presence, love, and humility of Emmanuel.
Christ was born into this world in the humility of
a manger – a feeding trough. He lived his life in a way that gave meaning and
sustenance to all he touched. And he poured out his life in the humility of the
cross – loving to the fullest to the very end. My prayer for each of us this Christmas is that we all seek to fill our hearts with the humility and love of Christ, so that we might be fulfilled with the power of God’s presence dwelling within and among us – this day, and every day. Amen.
Merry Christmas!
Rev. Becky Walker, Associate Minister, Minister of Adult Education
