The Beauty of Christ's Coming
Our life group spent the afternoon yesterday looking at Luke 1, the whole beginning of the story of Christ's entrance into the world. We've set ourselves to the task of looking closely into the beauty of Christ's journey in the world, in order to give ourselves a fresh look at stories that many of know inside out.
How else to say it but to say, "What an amazing way for God to enter the world?"
There's really nothing new to be said here, but as someone who is struggling to construct stories, I can only say the choices God made to usher in the means by which we could come home are nothing short of stunning. If we were going to choose women to birth and raise people of the stature of the Savior and the man of whom it was said that there were none greater in Israel, wouldn't we have chosen women other than an old woman who couldn't bear kids, and a young, unproven virgin? By unproven, I mean Mary had yet to demonstrate she had any skills in childbearing or raising, and yet God choose to entrust the King of Kings to her.
How much that tells us about the nature of God and his Kingdom.
So much beauty in this story: the pageantry and mystery of the entrance of the Priest into the Holy of Holies to atone for the sin of the people; the expectancy of the moment, and the entry of Gabriel in the first breaking in, the first direct contact with these people in over 400 years. What a sight to see Zechariah come staggering out of the temple unable to speak, sparking a feeling of expectancy, the people knowing something has happened, something that foretells of the mystery of God.
There's lots more. The baby that leaps in Elizabeth's womb. Mary's song of praise, sung round the world during this season. Her willingness to open her mind and body to the Holy Spirit. The sheer beauty of these women pondering these mysterious happenings, these pregnancies, the normal (though profound) joy of motherhood magnified by the knowledge that God had initiated these births in ways they could not account for.
As I said, nothing new here. But may we somehow live the beauty of Christ's coming this season. May our lives become part of the unexpected, surprising coming of Christ to a world that needs his beauty at least as much as his truth and goodness.
"Show us your glory..."
8:31:21 AM
