God's Radical Presence

This coming Sunday, Christians will begin the season of Advent, as we spiritually prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas.  Christmas is the celebration of the way that God was incarnate (in-carn-ate: literally “to make into flesh”) in Jesus Christ.  It is the proclamation that God took human form in Jesus.

That is to say:  Christmas is the announcement of the radical presence of God. We are saying that God is radically present in our lives and in our world.  The incarnation is the Christian belief that God is NOT aloof from us, NOT distant and remote from our creaturely existence, NOT far removed from our troubles and problems and successes and joys.  God is radically present, right here and right now.

Christmas is the announcement that God is radically present, completely present, fully present to our lives and our world.  God knows our human experience from the inside out, because God has taken on humanity for himself.

A first level of the meaning of Christmas is that God is fully present with you.  No matter what you are going through, God is with you.  God chooses to be with you.  God is not distracted, God’s attention is not too busy elsewhere to pay attention to your troubles, God is fully present with you.

The implications of this are enormous.  You can always talk with God about everything. God considers you completely worthy of God's complete attention - God is delighted to give you God's complete attention.   God is ever-ready to hear what’s going on in your life, and to provide you with guidance and direction for the decisions you need to make. 
 
When you are feeling lonely, you may take solace in the fact that God will never leave you.  When you are feeling bad about something you may have done, you may take solace in the fact that God will never leave you and is present with you for forgiveness, re-direction, and comfort.  When you are angry about something that has happened in your life, you may share your anger with God as explosively as you can.  God can handle it, and God will never reject you.  God is fully present with you.  

A second level of meaning of the Christmas season is that we may, in turn, become more

present with others.  The blessings of the incarnation are completely for us, but they are not exclusively for us.  We are blessed ourselves in order that we might become a blessing to others.  As we come to know and trust the presence of God with us, we will be more fully able to be present with others.  Christian writer Richard Rohr has written that true wisdom “is precisely the freedom to be truly present to what is right in front of you.”

How easy is it for you to believe that God is present with you, in every situation?  Do you find this hard to believe, or easy to believe?  Does the promise of God’s presence stay with you, or do you find yourself forgetting it when you get into a stressful situation?  What helps you to remember that God is fully present with you?

How easy is it for you to be fully present with others?  When you are sitting with another person, is it easy for you to give that person your full attention, or do you get distracted easily?  Do you find your mind wandering, thinking about what you have to do later in the day?  What might help you to be more fully present with others?  What might help you to be less distracted when you’re spending time with someone?


Being present with others sounds like it should be very easy (all you have to do is just be there!), but many people find that it is actually one of the most difficult things to do.  It is much easier to follow rules, or to complete a To-Do List, or to try and make people happy.  But the gift of our presence and our full attention is one of the most beautiful gifts we can give someone else.