Jesus is the Reason

Oh, how quickly this season can take on a life of its own! How quickly it can become about our to-do lists.  It becomes about buying the perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for person on our list.  It becomes about offering the perfect hospitality for our out-of-town guests.  It becomes about performing the perfect act of charity and care during the season.  Each of these is a very important and worthy activity but as we engage in the doing we often find ourselves tired and disappointed- unable to find that perfect gift or achieve the high-bar calling of Christmas that we impose on ourselves year after year.

Perhaps the problem is not the activities we do but the spirit in which we do them.  In each of these activities I mentioned, the operative word is “for.”  It becomes easy to busy ourselves with ‘for’ during the Christmas season.  After all there is so much to get done.  In fact, year after year we have high expectations that our actions ‘for’ others will bring about all that we hope for and long for at Christmas.  And so we work harder and harder- doing for, buying for, baking for, cleaning for and wrapping for.  Only in the end understanding that perhaps ‘for’ isn’t the most fulfilling word at Christmas.

And so let me suggest that this Advent we consider a change in our words.  Let me suggest that if we change the one small word ‘for’ to the word “with” we have a different story.  Rather than filling our list with things that we are doing for others- what would it look like if we prioritized simply being with others? 

In fact, the message at the heart of Christmas is the message of “with.”  Because on Christmas we proclaim that Jesus came to be with us.  John puts it this way “The Word became flesh and dwelt with us.”  Matthew tells us that the angel of God told Joseph that this newborn child will be called “Emmanuel”- which means God with us.  We begin to understand that, actually, our faith has always been about ‘with.’ 

When we are honest with ourselves, we recognize that all of our deepest desires and hopes involve with.  We long for those who come alongside us, who walk with us, who stand with us, who labor with us, who cry with us, who celebrate with us.  It is what we desire, but it is also what makes a real difference in our lives.  Each of us finds ourselves in need and we long for someone to share with us in our need.  We desire relationship, friendship, companionship, and love.  And in all of these we recognize the difference between “for” and “with”. 

Jesus, Emmanuel, comes to us this day and everyday as God with us.   The beauty of Christmas is that Jesus comes to be with us.  He comes alongside us- listening, partnering, caring, and loving.  This Christmas how do you need Jesus to be with you? 

And of course as in all things Jesus is our model.  Just as he does more than “for” he calls us to step beyond just doing ‘for’ but learning to be ‘with.’

This Christmas how is Jesus calling you to be with others?  How is he calling you to minister to others not just doing something for others but being with others- coming alongside, walking with, standing with, laboring with, crying with and celebrating with?

It changes a lot to move from “for” to “with.”  It makes a big difference.  And that big difference is the difference that Christmas makes.  May the miracle of with be yours to embrace this Christmas.  May you understand that our God was not content simply to do ‘for’ you but in his love has come to be with you.  May you learn this Christmas that even as we do for one another- through gifts, through hospitality, through service- that what we all long for is being with one another.  The miracle of Christmas is that through the birth of the Christ Child God has come to be with us.  Amen and amen!