God’s tender closeness to us

It was all a bit of a crisis…

… beginning nine months earlier with an unexpected and inexplicable pregnancy, with accompanying decisions about marriage, and with deep wonder (and a healthy dose of worry) about what the future would hold.

It was a crisis that unfolded in a series of journeys…

… first a journey of care to the Judean countryside to attend to another pregnancy, then a journey of relocation to a different city at the directive of the civil authorities, and finally a journey of need to a farmer’s stable on the outskirts of society to give birth to a son.

It was a crisis that changed lives…

… where all of those caught up in it – knowingly or unknowingly – were sifted out like wheat from the chaff. A mother and her husband; rulers close by and journey-ers from afar; lowly shepherds and hosts of angels; and a baby boy.

It was a crisis into which God came close by…

… to the shepherding families; among farm animals; into the hearts of searchers for truth.

The crisis that was the birth of Jesus affected everyone involved, and everything about it. It was utterly appropriate, then, that God’s greatest act of salvation, the divine irruption into all human history, would happen amidst a most ordinary and intimate personal crisis – a mother, a husband, a birth, a son. God-with-us; a Saviour for us.

It has been all a bit of a crisis…

… also beginning some nine months ago, unexpectedly and inexplicably; and also throwing up the lives of everyone.

It has been a crisis that has unfolded in various journeys…

… journeys from family and friends and into lockdown; journeys to places of fear and fatigue, and for some to new possibilities; journeys of frontline care and human connection.

It has been a crisis that had changed lives…

… where all of us have been caught up in it, in some way or another, and which has sifted us in ways we could not have imagined.

It has been a crisis into which God has come close by…

… to public housing towers; among aged care residents; into our homes to calm our hearts.

The crisis that has been this year of pandemic had affected us all. But how are we making our journey through it? Do you see any seeds of hope and goodness and re-orientation of your lives that might germinate from it? Entering into a crisis with faith and trust in the Lord’s promises, is entering onto a pathway towards hope. Mary and Joseph walked this path before us, and the fruit of their journey through the crisis of their lives is the gift of Jesus. Jesus is Christmas, for he is the truly great gift that continues to be given to us.

The crisis that gave to the world God’s Son broke open the ground under the feet of all of human history, so that into it could be planted the seeds of God’s tender closeness to us. The crisis of this year of pandemic has also broken open the ground beneath our feet, allowing for God to plant anew seeds of hope, and possibility, and tenderness. For God continues to make the seeds of his kingdom grow in our midst.

With Mary and Joseph, who responded with trust in the midst of their crisis, and along with the shepherd families who responded to the invitation to come and see, I want to invite you to come and see in our present crisis the same fruit that came from the crisis of the first Christmas. I want to invite you to come and see the gift of Jesus, who teaches us to trust; to hope; to believe; and to reach out in goodness and peace to one another. Come and see the face of a baby, and in that face see the gift that every Christmas brings and every crisis needs: Jesus.