God-is-with-us

 When we hear this phrase it is possible that we can misinterpret what it truly means. Often when we pray we can have a preset agenda that God needs to follow. We want life to be peaceful, uncomplicated, and stable. Yet in the hurly and burly of life, we can find ourselves pondering what God is seeking to communicate to us. We see this in the question which arises in Joseph's thinking when he finds out that Mary is pregnant. He starts to tell himself a story about what is best for him and for Mary. He works out a plan which both respects Mary while also allowing him to retain his honor. Part of this is driven by his fears of what others will say but also how this impacts the lives of both of them. Yet in his prayer, he is moved to act in a way he had not expected which sees his life as part of a larger adventure.

In a similar way when we hear these words of God-is-with-us we can tend to isolate  it to sound more like God-is-for-us. In this experience, we start to form God into our own image and likeness. We imagine that God will answer our prayers in the way we think best. In this situation, we seek to discover a God who will help us to maintain our control of the situations we find ourselves in and where we can see ourselves portrayed in the best light. The place allows us to believe that we can accord our lives to the prevailing opinion of others which will not rock the boat.

Yet in the reality, the Gospel message seeks for us to discover that we do not have all the answers to our problems. In fact, we often feel our own inner poverty when we do not have an immediate answer to quite challenging events that can unsettle and unnerve us. Like Joseph, we can wonder how to reconcile where our hearts are being led when they appear to be torn apart. When we wrestle with these questions we discover a God who does abide with us not to give a simple fix but a loving presence. 

I believe this is at the heart of how we prepare for Christmas when we wonder whether we have everything in place. In times of uncertainty about the future, we can seek to orientate ourselves toward a God who joins us in that poverty. God seeks us out in the disturbing presence of Jesus born in an obscure town in a far-off land in a place away from power and influence. In this place, he draws us to find our hearts especially when they seem divided in two. We discover a God who seeks to disrupt and heal us with a love that is present to our greatest desire. May the peace of Christ disturb us!