Advent: God with Us

When we’re able to strip back the overly-familiar parts of the story of Christmas it reveals the heart of the Christian faith. Something isn’t quite right with us and our world. We’re not always the people we want to be. And we’ve not always treated ourselves, other people and our world as we should. As silly as it may sound, is not our recent entertainment of going ‘full on goblin mode’, at least in part an admittance that everything else we’ve tried to bring happiness and self-actualisation hasn’t quite got us to where we want to go? Christmas says what we’re in need of is not something from within us, but something from without. It’s the story of God coming in search of his people. He’s come to love us into full existence. It’s only when we know his love revealed in the person of his Son Jesus that we won’t want to ever be anyone else again. And it’s his love that lifts us up into healing, forgiveness, purpose and meaning. He it is who we’re looking for. It’s why we celebrate. We’re not alone. God is with us.