And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us… John 1:14a
Dear Friends in Christ,
Sometimes its hard to pick up a phone to call a friend. Sometimes its hard to take the initiative to reach out. These days, for some reason, it feels harder to find a way to get together with other people in person. Perhaps we’ve become too accustomed to the isolation of the pandemic. So, we hem and haw, and hold back in hesitation, and we miss the connections and relationships that bring us life.
In the language of the church, sin is a kind of isolation. We isolate ourselves from God and from each other, and damage ourselves in the process. How do we break out of that isolation? This is part of the Good News of Christmas: God was not content with our self-isolation. God not only reached out with a message for us—God came himself. God came to humanity in Jesus to be ‘Immanuel,’ ‘God with us,’ to break up our isolation with his warm embrace. He lived and shared life with us to be present with us in human history, and to reconcile us to God the Father. He sent his Holy Spirit to us so that we would continue to be close to God always, and in order that we might live more closely with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.
The opposite of isolation is relationship. Christmas is a celebration of God overcoming our isolation by showing up in person, and by being present with us always. God wants more for us than our isolation, and he invites us into relationship with him and with others in Christ so that we might know the life that is truly living.
Come gather in person with your brothers and sisters in Christ this Christmas. Come praise God who loves you and calls to you personally to give you life. Come rejoice at Christmas for the one who takes the initiative to close the space between us and call us together. Merry Christmas!
Yours in Christ,
-Tom