Devotional Messages

DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE

Isaiah 40:1, 3, 6-8 – Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. … A voice cries out:  “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”  A voice says, “Cry out!”  And I said, “What shall I cry?”  All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass.  The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.  (NRSV)

The mystery that is at the center of Christmas is a core tenet of our faith.  When we talk about preparing for Christ to enter into our world, we are reminding ourselves of the idea that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  It’s astounding, confusing, overwhelming even, to try to comprehend that.  It’s even more astonishing if we try to embrace this wonder with a full and open-eyed understanding of what it means to be human.

Isaiah is not wrong.  The people are grass.  We wither and fade.  We are both not that great at being consistent and faithful, and also – not to put too fine a point on it – mortal.  Why would the Divine want to enter into such a weak and temporary vessel?  How could that lead anywhere but death?

Perhaps such questions seem too morbid for so soon after Christmas.  But the truth is that we carry our mortality with us everywhere we go.  For some, mortality looms large in the form of grief for loved ones who are no longer with us.  Too often, we feel obligated to box up these sad emotions and set them aside during all the celebrations of the season.

But if the Incarnation is the mystery at the center of all of this, the fullness of humanity is part of the point.  God has come to earth to be with us, to be with all of us, to be with all of each of us, even the parts we’d prefer to hide.  We do not have to strain to be cheerful or pretend our sorrows aren’t still lingering.  God is with us.