The Birth of Hope

God didn’t come to reign over humanity at Athens or Rome or any of the other major cities where one would expect God to arrive, but rather—God came to identify with us by being born in lowly Bethlehem in the form of a vulner-able infant. And God didn’t come to conquer the world with military or political might, but instead—in the scandal, shame, and pain of the cross. So also God continues to come where we least expect God to be….And that’s not all. If we are willing to suspend our expectations and live into the surprising reality of the God we know in Christ, then we are invited to meet God not in some distant eternal life or other-worldly reality but here and now, in the concrete and real need of our neighbors, just as they are invited to meet and be blessed by God….The God we know in Jesus is revealed, that is, not in power but in vulnerability, not in might but brokenness, and not in judgment but in mercy. ~David J. Lose, Nov. 17, 2014.

Lose’s commentary is truly Good News in a world of violence and suffering. Every day we read about or hear about more bad news. The promise of a Messiah, a savior who will save us from calamity, might seem as far-fetched to us as it must have sounded to First Century folks.

The realization that God fulfilled the promise of a savior, not in might but brokenness and not in judgment but in mercy changes all expectations and brings hope to the world. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of hope! Hope changes everything….

Each year hope “shimmers” amid the darkness of fear and doubt. This year it takes, for me, the form of a song, a video from the a cappella group Pentatonix. Their vocal harmony is beautiful, but it’s the words they sing that capture what Jesus’ birth means:

Mary did you know….
The blind will see.
The deaf will hear.
The dead will live again.
The lame will leap.
The dumb will speak.
The praises of The Lamb.

I invite you to find that video on YouTube or Vevo or on our own church’s Facebook page. Listen, enjoy, let hope grow in your heart. Thanks be to God!

~Harrell