The angels announced that in the birth of Jesus the favor of God has come to rest upon His people. Jesus declared that he was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, coming to be with us as one declaring the year of the Lord’s favor. What is this favor and how do we find it?
When the God of all creation chose to send His only Son into the world, God demonstrated His boundless love for the world, and His commitment to be present with His people. No longer would the people of God need to travel to the temple or perform sacrifices in order to encounter God’s presence. In the person of Jesus, God became tangibly present to all the hurts and joys, griefs and hopes of the human experience, suffering with us and for us. And in Jesus, God showed His willingness to be present with and for those who had been previously rejected and scorned.
Jesus shows us what God-with-us looks like: in Jesus we find good news for the poor, freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, an end to oppression. Throughout the course of our lives, we each find ourselves desperately in need of Jesus’ presence in each of those ways. How do we find the answer to our needs in the person of Jesus? How can we grow in experiencing the nearness of Christ in all of life’s circumstances? And how do we become people who are present to the needs of the world around us as an outflow of God’s presence with us?
Join us as we explore the ways Jesus is God-with-us, in every aspect of our lives. Enter with us into an Advent-exploration of the nearness of God in Christ, and of our call to be present with others the way God is present with us.
