Last year I realized that Christmas had become the crux of my faith. I was leading worship wondering if all this faith stuff was all it’s cracked up to be, and I found myself in a puddle of tears. I found myself in a puddle of tears because God was pleading to become incarnate at the doorstep of my soul, and in those moments I began to believe more fully than I ever had before. For me, Christmas is where I believe again.
It was Saint Athanasius of Alexandria who said, “For He [God] was made man that we might be made God.” Or more recently it was Joan Osborne who famously sang, “What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us? Just a stranger on a bus, trying to make his way home.”
Whether your Saint Athanasius or Joan Osborne, I think we all yearn for the incarnation. The advent of our God is well on its way this season as we approach Christmastide, and frankly this world could use some incarnation right now. With situations across our world crying out for God’s presence, I can’t help but be ready for Christmas.
I say Christmas is where I begin to believe again. As we lift the candles and celebrate communion in the beauty of a cold winter’s night, I can’t help but believe that there is more to this than meets the eye. I can’t help but have my faith in God and humanity restored because that is precisely where Christmas meets us, at the intersection of humanity and divinity. As the days grow shorter and our eyes grow tired from the darkness, Advent prepares us for the burst of light on the horizon, the newness of everything we’ve ever dreamt of, the hopes and fears of all the years that are met in Christ that Christmas night.
As we continue our Advent journey, allow your heart to believe again. Trust in the promise that we are on the verge of something great. Because ultimately, we are creatures who need the incarnation of our Creator God; we are a people who have wandered in the wilderness far too long. Christ bids us come out of the woods and find the hope of the incarnation once more.
Let your faith be restored at Christmas time dear friends, it’s the best gift you could ever give yourself. Keep the faith.