"How Do You Come Among Us?" The Answer Is Nativity

Back in 2004, while on a spiritual retreat in Scotland, I wrote a poem that began:

How do you come among us?
One of many appearances and guises
Flesh, spirit, a mixture of both
Archetype and person teasing
Humans out of their dreary sleep . . .

The poem points to this crazy, hectic season of Advent and Christmas. Caught up in the busyness of our preparations for Christmas, it is beyond easy to overlook how Christ comes among us. And all the hurry and worry is like an elixir that dulls our senses and pulls us into an existential slumber.

Who is coming? How does what get here? I don’t really have the time . . .

Regardless of our abundance or lack of time, there is truth to the saying that Carl Jung had hanging over his desk: “Summoned or not, God will be present.” While Advent points us towards the coming day of the Lord, in truth, that really isn’t the point. God has already come, is already here, and yearns to be made known. That is the purpose of Nativity. In the pain of longing, a movement to birth stirs. Have you had time to know that pain?

By stealing a still moment here and there amidst the rush of Christmas, we might just feel a birth pang. Imagine what would happen if we did live up to Nativity and birthed Christ all over the place!

I just might show random acts of kindness to my fellow shoppers and holiday drivers who are carried along on the rushing tide that is Christmas.

Birthing Christ all over the place, I might notice the hungry, the imprisoned, the poor, and the naked—and actually try to do something about their pressing needs.

Birthing Christ all over the place, I might feel a deeper pang of longing for peace, justice, and freedom in my own country and for the oppressed of the world.

When you or I give birth to Christ. that question, “How do you come among us?” finds an answer. Christ comes among us when you and I touch that sacred place within us where the pangs of birth are sharp.

Christ touches the world when you touch the world; Christ sees the world when you open your eyes; and Christ redeems the world when you reach out to those in need and forgive others who offend. Christ comes among us in power when, feeling birth pangs, you become Nativity.

Joel t