“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
- Matthew 28:20b
In
my house, we’ve started a new holiday tradition this year: every morning when
he wakes up, Andrew has to find Jesus.
…I
should explain that. On the fireplace, we have a small toy nativity set,
complete with the holy family, shepherds, plastic animals, and an angel on the
roof of the stable. So in an adaptation of the popular “Elf on a Shelf”
tradition, Lindsey and I decided that every night we’d hide the baby Jesus
somewhere in the house and ask Andrew to find it the next morning. It’s a
silly, simple game, but we like the way it brings Andrew’s attention to Jesus
on a daily basis.
The
game has also taught me an unintended spiritual lesson. As I’ve watched Andrew
groggily wander through the various rooms in the house, I’ve heard him
narrating his search: “He’s not in here…Jesus isn’t here either. Where is he?”
And as I’ve heard his little voice saying those words, I’ve realized: there are
a lot of people in this world saying the exact same thing.
In
a season when we celebrate the news that God is with us, many have never felt
more alone. Even as we sing of joy to the world, there are those who are mired
in despair. Our world is full of people whose experiences have convinced them
that the Lord wants nothing to do with them.
So
especially during Advent, when we worship the God who was and is and is to
come, when we remember Christ’s birth and anticipate his return, we owe it to
the hurting to proclaim the good news that God is with us. For those who think God
is unknowable, we have a duty to share that the Word became flesh and lived
among us. For those who think that God has rejected them, we must proclaim that
Jesus is hope for everyone.
There
are a lot of people in this world looking for hope, for peace, for joy, and for
love. Whether they know it or not, they’re looking for Jesus. As his disciples,
our responsibility—and our delight—is to help them find him.
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