Reformation Monday: Away in a manger......

Regardless of what they think of God the other 364 days of the year, folk love Christmas Eve.  They are drawn to this story of a miraculous birth, a baby born to (almost) anonymous kids, in a backwater town.  Perhaps God anticipated humankind's love of babies when God made the move to come among us in the flesh.  Perhaps God knew that we just couldn't resist a story that had a newborn at its center.  Everyone loves Away in a Manger........

When we look into the face of a newborn, we see hope.  We see a future, endless possibilities, life about to unfold.  For a moment we can put aside the broken places of our lives, the disappointments and unfulfilled dreams.  We are refreshed by the very innocent potential of the child before us, the potential of a thousand different stories with 10,000 different endings.

In the face of a newborn, we encounter innocence once again and experience peace.

And yet.

And yet, hidden under the swaddling clothes, and deep within the very flesh of the child lies God.  Our eyes are fooled to see only a human child when, in truth, God lurks within, ready to be present in the most immediate way to the rest of humankind.  This is the miracle of the incarnation: God takes on human flesh, puts aside a portion of God's very being to assume the limitations of the human condition.  God comes in Jesus, subject to the same vicissitudes as every other human being.

Luther develops this idea of a hidden God in two other important places.  First is in the bread and wine of Holy Communion.  Hidden 'in, with and under' the familiar bread and wine is the crucified and risen Jesus.  The bread is his body.  The wine is his blood.  He is there, but hidden to all but the eyes of faith.

Then, at the cross.  On Good Friday when we look into the suffering face of our Lord Jesus, we see God -  hidden in the suffering, hidden in the dying, hidden in the supposed defeat.  All may look like darkness, but God is right at the center, taking into Godself through the person of Jesus, the suffering of the world.  Hidden in this world's suffering is our God.

If you are looking to encounter God, you'll need to travel away from the manger and into the world.  Stand with those who are suffering and the hidden God will reveal Godself to you.