Reflection for the 4th Week of Advent, 2022
Scriptures: Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25
Key Verse: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” (Matthew 1:23)
In which way is God with us? I think of three ways. The first one is that God is with us through the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is well noted by gospel writers, especially Matthew. The second one is that God is with us through the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is well articulated by St. Paul throughout his letters especially in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 where he teaches about one body with many members. And the third one is that God is with us through every person we encounter and every breath that we take, which refers to all living beings. Doesn’t it say in Genesis 1:27 that humans are created as the reflection of God and the image of God, and that human life is sustained by the breath of life from God in Genesis 2:7?
When I was in seminary, there was a series of non-credit courses called Growing Faith that all seminarians were required to take at least five of them in order to graduate. The main purpose of the Growing Faith courses was for seminarians to have spiritual practices while receiving their academic training. In each spiritual practice, we intentionally took time to pay attention to God’s presence and shared with each other our own experiences and interpretations.
One time in class, each student was given a piece of white paper with a box of markers. We were told to draw ‘God is with us.’ Once we were done with the drawing, we took our turn to interpret our own drawings. Then we shared our takeaways at the end of class. It was interesting to see how we experienced the presence of God that was in us, through us, among us, above us, or bigger than what we could imagine. Sometimes, God’s presence seemed too small for us to notice when we played God; sometimes, it was even invisible to us when all we could think of was ourselves. In some of our drawings, several types of colors were used to express the feelings that God and God’s people had, and those colors would change at different stages of their lives depending on the types of conversations they had with God.
In Matthew 1:23, it says that a prophecy about God’s presence among God’s people has been fulfilled. God comes to us through the baby Jesus. God’s presence isn’t unreachable anymore. But God doesn’t stop there. In order to make God’s eternal presence in all believers take effect, God conquers the eternal death through Jesus’ cross. Still, God doesn’t stop there. God gives all believers the power of the Holy Spirit so that the ministries and mission that Jesus started in the first century can be continued for the sake of his name, Emmanuel.
The same words of encouragement that St. Paul said to the church in Rome is what we need to hear over and over again. He said in Romans 1:5, “Through Jesus Christ we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name.” Yes, we continue the ministries and mission that Jesus has started for us for the sake of his name, Emmanuel. We give thanks to God for the gift of God’s grace that helps us see God’s presence in our lives together. We also give thanks to God for the gift of apostleship that commissions us to go and tell the stories of God’s presence that is in us and among us. Amen.
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