Day 26 - Hope Made Flesh

Child of Hope: An Advent Devotional

Christmas Day, December 25, 2008

Hope Made Flesh

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ, the Lord.
Luke 2:11

You don’t always get what you hoped for on Christmas Day. The socks may be sensible, but you wouldn’t be seen dead in them. Grandma’s cardigan may have been made with love, but one sleeve is longer than the other, and you’ve moved beyond sequins and bows. The video game was well-intentioned, but it’s for a game system that you don’t have, indeed that no-one has used for at least five years. Oh well. “Merry Christmas!” There’s always next year.

Meanwhile, up a corner, overshadowed by the tree, the simple creche bears testimony to the greatest gift of all. There, beneath the plastic angel and the lop-sided star, within the rustic stable, amid the Spanish moss, with arms outstretched the Child of wonder lies, the symbol of salvation, and the source of our hope.

The creche is only a symbol. It bears little relation to the reality of a cow byre, or to the poverty that brought His mother to such extremes. It has been sanitized to make it suitable for children; in its retelling for two thousand years the story has lost its raw immediacy. Nevertheless, the coming of the Christmas Child is significant beyond our dreams. In this Child, God broke into our world. By His Advent, Christ identified with our condition. By His teaching, Christ revealed the heart of God. By His sinless life and sacrificial death, Christ opened up a new and living way back to the God for whose embrace we had longed. By His resurrection, Christ proved that His claims were true, and that God had not finished with our world.

So, today, pause and give thanks. You may not have got what you wanted, but God has given you what you really need. Christ is come. Hallelujah.

Prayer for the Day
Child of hope we praise You,
for into a dark and weary world
You came as the bearer of light.
Illumine our hearts today.
Bless us, again, with the warmth of Your presence
and the power of Your saving love.
For Your name’s sake.
Amen.