Compassion By Design

It was such a hopeless start. Baby born to a yet unmarried couple in a stable, giving birth while traveling to satisfy bureaucratic requirements for residence, and then having to flee to another country to avoid a government sanctioned death squad. From the outside, a morally challenged refugee family with a newborn. But to those in the know, a King whose birth drew angelic visitation, personal visits and treasures from the east and the prophetic whispers of relatives and shepherds alike.

I am awed by the incarnation—what we celebrate at Christmas. The entrance of God into human form, born into the lowest of circumstances—son of a woman who became pregnant outside of marriage, living in a dirt poor town, in a country under the iron thumb of a dictator.

What moves me so much is the willingness of God to be “with” us, to join us in our pitiful condition, to take our very form. Then to live among us, work a job, pay taxes, deal with parents, customers and co-workers on a daily basis.

It was,
Omnipotence that became vulnerable
Omniscience that had to learn math and human language,
Omnipresence that had to walk in sandals along sewage strewn roads.
The prime mover pounding nails with a hammer, smoothing wood with a chisel.
All this to be with us.

While a holiday has many expressions, my heart is humbled by this knowledge, how about you?

Many of those who visit this blog, have experienced this reality personally, and we should take time during this season to remember. Some have not, and I encourage you to invite him to join you this Christmas. You can do that with a simple request.

Many who do know him, live out the incarnation everyday. You are a model of this deep spiritual truth, when you move your family to grow a new community of faith in a strange city, when you patiently tutor a child in reading, when you chop potatoes and carrots and then dip soup, when you help neighbors every month to get their Angel Food, when you take time to share encouragement with a homeless family, or whatever selfless acts of service you do somewhere where the public lights do not shine.

If you are one of those who work tirelessly to meet the needs of others, setting aside your own plans and interests to feed, clothe, care and encourage others, you are living out this miracle of Christmas. You are that hidden faithfulness being born in a converted cave—holy character wrapped in shredded cloth. You are being him to others, because he was not only born in a middle eastern city on a historical date, but because he has also been born in you.

May your service deepen your knowledge of him and may others come to know him who moves you to serve.

Merry Christmas.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 9:19 am and is filed under Church Planting, Community Ministry, Compassion Ministry, Newsletter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.