ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
December 23, 2022
When the church celebrates Christmas, it is celebrating an absurdity. Some people are quite excited about the way our culture has “embraced” Christmas. I would suggest it has, instead, squeezed the absurdity out of Christmas in hopes of making it sweet and conventional. Yet the story, if given the freedom to speak its truth, will be as shocking and rebellious as it was in the dominant culture of the first century. Remember, the story claims Emmanuel—that is, God born not in the safety of a fortified palace but in a place of poverty and powerlessness. If you want to know something about the nature of the God in whom Christianity claims to believe, begin with that absurdity.
Even if it challenges my sensibilities and forces me to change my priorities, I come to you with an open mind and a receptive heart, O Emmanuel. Amen.
