Around this time I love to pull out a Christmas CD and listen to the sounds of the season as I drive. This year, it was John Denver and the Muppets’ album, A Christmas Together. There is a beautiful song on that CD that speaks to the realities of life, death and the great beyond. When the River Meets the Sea, as the song states so profoundly, “Like a baby when it is sleeping in its loving mother's arms, what a newborn baby dreams is a mystery. But his life will find a purpose and in time he'll understand, when the river meets the almighty sea!”
The writer of the book of Galatians puts it this way, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.” What a wonderful idea to hold fast to. God sent his son in the fullness of time so that we might experience the height, depth and gravity of God’s mercy and grace.
We who claim the name of Christian believe that Jesus was fully human and fully divine. If Jesus was fully human, what then, did Jesus dream about? As a newborn baby I wonder what the Savior of the nations had to dream about. I wonder as he was cradled in Mary’s arms what in the world was going through his head. As we ponder these questions let us ponder our own dreams.
In the fullness of time, we dream dreams of wealth, of power, of earthly things. Instead we should have hopes for love, peace, justice and hope. The reality of our Advent and Christmas season is one of change, one of hoping for better. In the fullness of our own existence, we realize that God is present amidst our lives. We feel God incarnate in our very beings.
This year, look for Christmas. I always see the incarnation of God in the beauty of my grandmother’s Christmas tree, or in the candlelight carols sung in church. Find the incarnational theology in your own life. Where does Christ become present for you? Hear these words from a wonderful hymn, “Where cross the crowded ways of life, where sound the cries of race and clan, above the noise of selfish strife, we hear thy voice, O Son of Man.” Where our lives intersect with a cross and a manger is where we see God. Where our lives full of rivers meet the almighty sea, is where God is present. Thanks be to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment