I just finished reading a meaningful devotional book, “Honest Advent – Awakening to the Wonder of God-With-Us.”*   I’d like to share a few of the author’s insights with you.

Perhaps Christmas has lost some of its luster for you this year.  Perhaps your celebration will be subdued.  And Advent?   Well, for four weeks we change the color of the altar paraments and we “prepare.”    Sometimes we’re not really sure what that means, except that we’re not permitted to sing our favorite Christmas songs in church yet.   But, perhaps we can use this season to connect with God in a new way.  Can we find wonder in the Advent season – the wonder of “God-with-us, then, here and now.”*

Let’s think a moment about vulnerability.  Jesus allowed himself to be totally vulnerable.   He came to us embedded in the womb of a Middle Eastern teenage woman.   He trusted her to care for all his basic needs.   He was willing to be this vulnerable in order to connect with us.

Mary, his mother, was vulnerable.  We honor her and picture her seated next to the manger, often robed in blue, a beatific smile on her face.   But don’t forget she likely endured pregnancy like the rest of us with morning sickness, swollen feet, insomnia and fatigue.   The birth was labored and messy, like any other.  The parents were exhausted.  We’ve sanitized the event in art and pageants, appropriately so.  But remembering just how vulnerable Mary was, may help us identify with her in the tough moments of our lives.

And how about us?  Are we vulnerable?  If we look deep, behind the mask of our outward façade, will we find our own hidden vulnerabilities – the weaknesses we’d rather deny,  the fears we hate to admit?  It’s in these hard places that God connects with us.  In these vulnerable spots where we are weak, then He is strong.   There we will experience the wonder of God-With-Us. 

The unconditional love of our Almighty God is so awesome.  Let’s open our vulnerable hearts to this wonder!

Judy

*Honest Advent, Awakening to the Wonder of God-With-Us Then, Here, and Now,   Scott Erickson, Zondervan Books, Copyright 2020.