People were and are walking in darkness, the darkness of being cut off from God, walking a whole lifetime struggling and toiling, deeply embroiled in the turmoil we all encounter on the human journey, all the trouble and pain of having to work hard for any daily bread, raise the children, face illness and accidents and old age and maybe addiction, defend against real danger at times, all with only the passing, brief happiness of ordinary sensual pleasures if even that.  What is the meaning of this life, anyway?  At some point we are all forced to ask this question!

But God brings light – in the form of a message of hope embodied in Immanuel; not words only but the literal incarnation of God with us, with humankind, God as a human being.  This is who Jesus was!

Jesus’ human lifetime was circumscribed by the Roman empire – but there was more:  the spiritual darkness of lack of hope, lack of understanding of the arc embedded in history, the same lack of understanding that we can also identify in our own society – the movement of all events to culminate in the ultimate salvation of mankind. 

Can you see it?  Can you see how God is bringing us to our knees?

The Christian path assures all people of the forgiveness of sin but there is more:  God’s kingdom on earth, the promised kingdom of peace, love, and joy for all and forever.  No more sorrow, no more pain, the planet restored, well-being even for the animals.

During the Christmas season we can catch glimpses of the joy that arises from this ultimate victory to come, the fulfillment of God’s plan for human beings and all of Creation.

Oppression and poverty will cease, war will be no more, and peace will blanket the earth. 

What does this mean for your life and for mine today?

Just as the angels and the wisemen who witnessed to the King and Promised Savior who was and is Jesus, prefiguring and foreshadowing the Kingdom to come, so our own lives today here and now can prefigure and foreshadow that Kingdom.  Indeed, that is the call to humankind!  This is our personal and collective calling!

Our Christian walk now and in this life prefigures the peaceable kingdom to come.

Think about it this way:  we have plenty to do while we wait!  How can that be summed up?  Let us show each other and everyone we meet and interact with kindness; give yourself.  Show tenderheartedness.  Give what you can to anyone in need beginning with yourself.  Show forth the love of God, the same love He has for you!

Make each other and everyone you meet smile, having seen the light, the light of Christ, that our lives, like that of Jesus, is a foreshadowing of the great, glorious and beautiful Kingdom of God to come! Merry Christmas!