CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT GOD BEING PRESENT

While it is true that God does not have to do something, there is still, I believe something that God had to do. What God had to do is what God did on the day we celebrate Christmas: become one of us. God had to become present in and among us human beings to know what it is like to be human. There was no other way for even God, all-knowing and all-wise that God is, to know what it is like to be human.

And so God became present among us, to live as we do, to love as we do, to suffer as we do, to die as we do. No, God not live, love, suffer and die in the exact same way as any other person who has lived, is living or will live. No two people live, love, suffer and die in the exact same way. But we all live, love, suffer and die. God became as one of us to understand just what being human means and is all about.

Now I know I am treading on heretical grounds here. This is not deep theology. I just don’t go there. Where I do go, where I do travel is this life where good and evil, love and hate, joy and pain are present everywhere and in every one of us. And when pain and suffering come my way, when I feel lost and alone and cannot understand why, I want to know that my God understands what I am going through.

Thus, because I know my God knows because God in Jesus experienced what I experience, suffered the way I suffer, and in many ways experienced more and suffered worse than me, I am comforted. I can come to God in prayer knowing God knows what I am going through because God in Jesus went through the same. The pain and suffering may not be lessened but knowing God understands certainly helps me in dealing with what is going on in my life.

God’s being present among us is akin to our being present with someone we love who is in pain, is akin to another being present with us when we are in pain. The pain is not taken away or even reduced but we give comfort and are comforted simply by that presence. That is the meaning of what we celebrate on Christmas: it is God’s present to us by becoming present with us.

And is that not what our Christmas presents are? They are symbols, reminders, of our presence, when we are apart, of our love and care for them and they for us. We cannot always be physically present with the ones we love, but our presents are reminders that we are always present if only in thought and prayer.

Christmas is a reminder that God is always present with us and knows and understands what it means to be human. God becoming one of us in Jesus, being present in Jesus, is the greatest present God could give to us. Our Christmas presents need to remind us of just how important being present really is. Our being present to another is the greatest present we can give to that person. We must never forget that.