Christmas is the celebration of God entering the world as a tiny baby. It is thus a celebration of humanity and divinity meeting in the person of Jesus Christ. And yet, many of us expect to shed our humanity at Christmas time and accomplish superhuman feats: physically and spiritually. It seems to me that we are missing something crucial - we are missing Christmas.
At the beginning of the beginning creation poured forth from the Wisdom of God. Creation was not an accident, but an intentional act of love coming from the infinite abundance of the Trinity. When Christ entered into this Creation He entered as the perfect creation - the incarnation of God's Wisdom - the sum total of all created goodness. He transformed men's hearts, not the place of our salvation.
Christmas, in a very real way, is a celebration of our humanity. When the kids get the flu, family relationships become tense, when the rain won't stop and the dryer goes out, when the phone is broken and you have trips to plan and people to see... even when death's shadow falls upon us.... it is still Christmas. In fact, all of this may be Christ's gift to you this Christmas, to re-focus, surrender, and accept that same humanity that He Himself undertook for our salvation. Listen closely, and you will hear:
I am here, with you, in all the ordinariness of life. Together we can do this, so take my hand and let's go.
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