God In: God In Us (12/9/18)

For centuries, humans have searched for answers to the most fundamental questions of life and meaning:
Is there a God, and if so, where is God to be found?

Our timeless quest for God has sent us on pilgrimages to mountain sages and desert monks in search of divine wisdom; to sacred spaces and thin places in search of holy experiences; to the furthest reaches of the universe in search of the God particle, and the inner landscape of the human brain in search of the so-called God gene.

Yet, after all of our searching and striving, we have only human words and concepts to describe what we’ve been looking for, and we’re no closer to having found the real thing. But maybe the power and beauty of the Christmas story is that, in the end, despite all of our searching, it’s not we who find God, but God who finds us.

God comes to us. God becomes one of us. God dwells in and among us.

This is the mystery of the Incarnation. This is the end of all our searching. The One we’ve been looking for is the One who has been looking for us all along and has found us in Christ, Emmanuel, God-with-us.