Emmanuel ( God With Us)

Each year at Christmas we celebrate the coming of the Christ Child, when God took human form and moved in with us. The Hebrews called it Emmanuel, or God With Us.

I recently preached on that topic and realized that to the Israelites, God with us meant a lot, because they could remember through stories when God literally lived with them.

During the Exodus, God was with them as a pillar of fire and a cloud. When Moses went up on the mountain, they heard the voice of God shaking the ground. And when Solomon dedicated the Temple, the Glory of the Lord filled the Temple to the point that the priests could not perform their ceremonial priestly duties. That was God with them.

A carpenter's son, born in a manger and fleeing for his life from a king wasn't their idea of Emmanuel. But God, in his wisdom, sent Jesus to live with us, like us, and among us, so that he could give us victory over sin, death and Hades. It still amazes me to think that Jesus would give up the beauty of heaven to come to this mess. A perfect place for a very imperfect place. A place of beauty for a world filled with much ugliness. That is love my friends. True, selfless love.

And now that the Holy Spirit lives in us, not a building in Jerusalem, we are called to be the embodiment of Christ to the world around us. This Advent and Christmas I have been thinking a great deal about what that can mean for me personally, my family, and my church. I don't have answers, but I encourage you to ask the Lord to show you how you can be the incarnation of Christ to those around you. How can you bring Jesus to them, not in an arrogant, "I'll tell you how to do it" way, but a "I love you because you are you" way. More of a servant's heart, like Jesus, rather than that of a fixer.

That is the meaning of Christmas. Love came and set up camp in our neighborhood. I want to do the same and spread the Love that rescued the world.

It's that time of year again

Yep. It must be Christmas if the ACLU is running around telling municipal governments to get Creche's off of city property. Every year this happens. The ACLU does its thing, the Christians get outraged that they cannot display a manger scene on city property, and news cameras show up.

Why do we do this? I saw a letter to the editor in our local paper the other day with a brilliant idea. Instead of Christians fighting to put a manger on public property, why don't ALL of the Christians put one on their own property? Imagine streets lined with reminders of Jesus' birth. House after house testifying to their faith. What a witness that would be to the world.

I'm pretty sure we will have one up next year. We've been shopping for an illuminated one that doesn't look cheesy. Unfortunately the best ones are out of stock. But that is my plan for next year. I won't ask the city to do what I won't do myself.

Thank you Bob Geldof

For those who do not know, Sir Bob Geldof was a member of the Boomtown Rats who helped organize a UK supergroup called BandAid. Their principal activity was recording the song "Do they know it's Christmas Time?" The record, released in 1984, is my favorite modern Christmas song for several reasons. It's catchy, not sappy, and I loved the second British Invasion of the late 1970's and 1980's. I know I am dating myself here.

What I also love about it is that it spawned the Live Aid movement, which helped turn the world's attention to the famine in Africa. While much of the famine was a government-engineered attempt to starve rebel groups in Ethiopia, it did mark a turn in the Western world's consciousness toward the starvation and other abuses occurring around the world.

The list of artists in the project includes:

• Bananarama
• Bob Geldof
• Culture Club
• David Bowie
• Duran Duran
• Eurythmics
• Frankie Goes to Hollywood
• Heaven 17
• Human League
• Kool and the Gang
• Midge Urge
• Paul McCartney
• Paul Young
• Phil Collins
• Spandau Ballet
• Status Quo
• Sting
• The Style Council
• U2
• Wham!

Here is a video clip of the song. Enjoy it, and celebrate the fact that, while not all of these people are followers of Christ, they were willing to put their mouths, and money together, to alleviate suffering. It's a start, and one that I love to listen to.

Enjoy the song. And thank God that we don't face starvation in this country.