Maybe because we are so event-oriented in our
culture today, we tend to think of the good news of
Christ’s birth as something that happened two
thousand years ago—or that will be realized in some
distant future when Christ comes again to claim us.
We’re really good at focusing on it once a year
during Advent, but not quite so good at living it
during the year. We put away the Nativity Scene in
January, and that’s that. Yet this announcement to
the shepherds is radically personal; this is not an
arbitrary birth or an arms-distant relationship, or
something to be objectified in art, literature and
liturgy; rather, it is immediate and relational. The
Messiah is ours from the very beginning—not someone
who is simply for us and who acts as an indifferent
advocate on our behalf, but someone who comes to us,
and is therefore in us, part of us. I wonder how
ready we really are to embrace that message.
Some days ago, a friend told me a story of a
conversation she overheard between a mother and
four-year-old child who were shopping together. The
little girl looked at her mother and said, “Oh,
Mommy, every day is just the very best day!” Now
that is something to think about. No wonder Jesus
liked children and admonished us to be like them. In
these few words—from the mouth of a child—the good
news of Advent resonates in all its beauty and
simplicity.
Just imagine what it would be like if we could say
every morning, “Today is just the very best day!”
Isn’t that what Christ himself tells us over and
over again to believe. “Don’t be afraid. I am with
you….I was born to you.”
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If we could truly live the promise of Advent,
we would be incapable of judging others because we
would naturally see only the best in everyone; we
would stop worrying about the future because we
would know that Christ is clinging to us in this
moment. Like the child, we would feel the connection
without having to think about it. Sadness and
despair would turn to hope; life’s inevitable
challenges would become opportunities for growth;
fear would turn to courage; anxiety and frustration
would turn to commitment; and hesitation and apathy
would turn to action and discipleship.
And that would be very good news indeed—for us and
for the world!
[Adam Quine, pastor of First Presbyterian Church
in Lincoln] |
