God is With Us

December 25th

God is With Us

Listen to the reflection here… (also available on Spotify HERE )

We build up Christmas day into such a big event, such a pinnacle of joy, that it is not at all unusual to experience fleeting moments of disappointment on such day as this. A child scrunches up their nose at the gift you gave them, someone gives you a gift revealing a last minute lack of thought, the brussel sprouts are soggy, the chaos just feels overwhelming, or in the gathering of friends and family the absent faces around the table bring to mind loved ones we’ve lost.

With such huge anticipation, Christmas day can easily land in thudding disappointment. Not enough of just the right gift, not enough connection with family, not enough time, not enough of that magical hopeful thing we all long for but can’t quite name. Not enough.

But strangely enough, this ‘not enough’ feeling is not as far removed from the Christmas story as we might think. 

Not enough is actually a consistent theme in the story of the first Christmas.

Zechariah didn’t have enough faith when the angel visited. Joseph didn’t have enough faith in Mary when he found she was pregnant. Mary didn’t have enough words to convince Joseph that she hadn’t been unfaithful (without an angels help). They’d both probably not felt enough warm hearts in Nazareth welcoming her unwed pregnancy. Mary probably felt she had not enough experience to have a baby far from home, let alone enough energy to traverse the long road to Bethlehem while heavily pregnant. The shepherds didn’t have enough wealth, social status or respect.

The Christmas story is full of people who didn’t have enough. Not enough money, not enough time, not enough safety, not enough wealth. Not enough.

And then, as the Christmas story culminates with this magical moment… “And she gave birth to her firstborn, A Son”… the very next line then reads… “She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn” Not enough space. Not enough room for them anywhere else. A manger. A sign of their status as visitors and strangers, far from home. Not enough family nearby, not enough space to be comfortable.

Not enough welcome.

This manger, the evidence of their ‘lack’ is mentioned three times in this Christmas story in Luke. One might say it is actually highlighted by the author, as though he’s saying ‘sit up, take notice, this really matters’…

‘and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.’ Luke 2:7

‘This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:12

‘So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.’ Luke 2:16

This not-enough-room manger cradle was the signpost the celestial messengers gave to the shepherds to find the King of all the spinning Universe, the same King who spoke light and life into being, the same King who breathed out stars and set the world in place. His poverty was the sign. He was to be found in an animal food trough wrapped in rags.

This manger is the sign of the location of this baby born King; it was a sign of His physical location but also of His spiritual location. The very place we will find our King, our Father, our hope, is not in our comfort and abundance, but in our lack. In our not enough.

This baby born King will grow up to name this startling reality of not enough actually being exactly the place He can most easily inhabit…

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their’s is the Kingdom of Heaven.’

Matthew 5:3

The Kingdom that this baby was ushering in belongs to we who feel, know and experience the ‘not enough’. We who need, who struggle, who lack. We who know we are not enough without Him.

It’s when we are busy filling ourselves up, our lives, our minds and our time, with the insatiable grasping more more more, that we miss Him; because we have left no room for the one relationship that will truly fully fill us in abundance.

Despite what the retailers try to tell us, Christmas isn’t about getting more stuff. And contrary to the messaging in most Hollywood holiday movies, Christmas actually isn’t about being surrounded by family and friends and abundant food. It’s not about gluttonous abundance. 

It’s about true abundance. Which always begins with lack. A deep absence waiting quietly to be fully filled by the deeper presence of our God: Our loving Father who comes into our empty-manger existence, our poverty, our pain, our tiredness, our brokenness. Our loneliness. Our not-enough existence. To be with us.

Because He knows (and we need to comprehend) that the difference between our ‘not enough’ and our flourishing abundance is not actually more. Not more time, wealth, status, friends, or anything else.

But simply Him.

In that tiny stable cave, in that simple manger bed, Mary and Joseph had the abundant presence of God right there with them. And it was enough.

It was everything.

So whether you read this today surrounded by torn gift wrapping, merry noise and rich family connection, or whether today is quieter, reminding you of a loved one no longer present, or too quiet,  with a creeping sense loneliness.

Find a moment of stillness and make space to remember, let your heart hear His heart beating close to yours. Emmanuel. God is right here. Right now. With you.

The God who came into our stable-manger-not enough existence to fully fill it with His loving, abundant presence. 

You have all of Him present with you. You have enough. 

That is what this day is truly about. 

God with us. 

Well friend our long walk to Bethlehem has come to an end for this year. It’s been so good to have you join me on this slow journey through the Christmas story.

This little corner of the internet will fall silent for a while now, until it springs back to life again just before ash Wednesday next year for a journey towards Easter.

Until then, may God’s richest blessings and the grace filled presence of our Lord Jesus be with you today and every day.

Happy Christmas.