‘Tis the Season: God with Us
“The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.”
--A prophetic vision of God’s peaceful realm
(Isaiah 11:6)
Monday: Letting a Child Lead Us
Christians are continuing in a season of preparation (Advent), journeying toward a special holy day. We celebrate the birth of Jesus, not because December 25 is his birthday but because it is important to celebrate God’s incarnational presence among us. This week we will meditate on various realities of what it means to feel that God is with us.
One of our associates has a married sister who lives a great distance from here. They have an adopted son named Seth whose birthday is earlier this month. Many years ago as a 4 year old there was a conversation that mom and Seth had as mom tried to help son understand the mysterious relationship of Santa, Jesus and Christmas.
Mom: Seth, so you know why we celebrate Christmas?
Seth: Yeah, cause Santa gets me a present and then I get to open the present that Santa brung me.
Mom: But why does Santa bring gifts?
Seth: So I can open them.
Mom: No, Santa brings gifts because we are celebrating someone’s birthday; whose birthday is it?
Seth: I don’t know.
Mom: It’s someone who came from heaven and we celebrate their birthday.
Seth: OHHHH, that’s ME!
I can see that while the Holy One was/is definitely alive in this child, mom probably felt like there’s lots of teaching to do. How about you?
--Ben Keckler
12.13.10
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