Immanuel. God With Us.

"Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means God with us)." Matthew 1:23

I love the word Immanuel. In one word it sums up life.

Immanuel. God with us.

Life is not about living for God. It is about living with God.

I am not sure why humans like to make simple things complicated, but we seem to. We endlessly define and quantify right behavior, but trying to live a good life above all else is not Christian. Every other religion defines right behavior and encourages followers to live good lives. Christianity is different.

God himself came to us. That is Christmas. Jesus paid the highest price possible in order to make it possible for us to be with him with no barrier in between. Because of Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection we get to live life with him. All we have to do is accept the Christmas present God gave us.

Immanuel. God with us.

When we have accepted life with him, we will want to live like lovers committed to a life together. Lovers want to be near their beloved. Lovers want to please their beloved.

God is with us and we want to be as close to him as we can.

Immanuel! God with us!

Merry, Merry Christmas!

His Name Shall Be...Prince of Peace

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. 

Isaiah 9:6

During the Christmas season I sing about silence and peace, but rush around in noise and turmoil. It strikes me that I need to remember that the baby in the manger was also the Prince of Peace.

In contrast to the words of Silent Night, Jesus entered a world that was anything but serene. Politically, Israel was an occupied country with corrupt men in charge. Many of the men in power in religious circles had primarily their own interests at heart. Additionally, there were the daily pressures of relationships and physical survival.   

Have you ever noticed that Jesus' daily life was not easy? Sometimes there was nothing to eat, or hoards of people were vying for his attention, death was imminent because their fishing boat was getting swamped by huge waves, or evil men were looking for ways to entrap and execute him. Jesus never seemed hurried or stressed, even when his disciples were panicking for entirely valid reasons. Jesus lived as an oasis of serenity in the midst of tumult. Jesus seemed to see beyond and beneath what the disciples saw. He knew whose hands held the world, and his daily existence. He relied on his Father in heaven in everything big and small, and calmly walked through his days as a man, and at the same time as the Prince of Peace.

I succumb to turmoil like the disciples did.  I would like to be like Jesus instead, unfazed by hurry, and worry, acutely aware that both the details of my daily existence and sweeping events of my world are in the hands of the Prince of Peace.

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

www.youtube.com

http://www.AlphabetPhotography.com/ -

This surprising intrusion of the transcendent Hallelujah Chorus into a mall food court brought tears to my eyes the first time I watched it. A choir of voices, like the voices of angels, showed up as shoppers and janitors, in order to bring the higher into the lower. The divine invaded the loud, smelly, chaos of ordinary life. That is what Christmas is after all. Christ, the divine became one of us and invaded the smelly reality of the human world. Hallelujah!