Didn’t we just do this?!
Maybe I’m getting old, but Christmas seems to roll around faster every year – and that doesn’t factor in the build-up! It seems like the shops are in pre-Christmas mode from early June! We see Christmas coming a mile off. We spend half a year with Christmas coming.
But before the first Christmas, there was… nothing. For 400 years the people of God had waited. They had the promise that he would redeem the nation as he had done in the past. But then nothing. Silence. Praying and waiting.
The birth of Jesus came unexpectantly. There was no fanfare or build up. He just arrived. In the middle of boring mundanity, God stepped into human history in a way so radical that it was beyond imagination. This is the joy and surprise of the Christmas story. God shows up in the boring monotony of life and does something spectacular.
So, this Christmas I encourage you to notice the repetitive sameness of life. To see the cycle repeating. And in the midst of it realise that, in times and places like these, God has a habit of showing up. This Christmas let’s be expectant and prayerful. Let’s remember that God shows up!
He is a redeemer who comes to seek and save; to search us out, our friends, our family, our neighbours.
This Christmas God is able to show up once more.
So be expectant. Be prayerful. Bring yourself, your neighbours, your whole life to God in prayer. Be persistent. Because our God has come into this world, he has come into our lives, and he will come again.
Let’s join in the anticipation and hope, and remember that our God is on a mission and he will keep at it!
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
Luke 2:13–14
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
