The Advent Season has come again when we are invited to make our journey to Bethlehem to see the lovingkindness of the Lord revealed in the baby Jesus in the manger.
This season we rejoice, for Jesus’ coming brings us “good news of great joy.” It brings us peace and hope and light in our darkness.
We can hardly believe that God would be this humble, this self-giving, this vulnerable, in order to be Emmanuel, God-with-us! But such is the depth of God’s love for us. Seeing Jesus in the manger changes our understanding of God completely, for now we see God’s tender mercy, pure compassion, and loving presence as never before.
God has come to dwell with us and in us!
Let us respond with this prayer, in the words of Phillips Brooks who wrote the carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”:
“O holy Child of Bethlehem,descend to us, we pray;
cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel!”