“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
I love Advent anticipation--the expectant longing for the Messiah. It shifts our gaze from the commercialism of Christmas towards the presence of the babe in the manger. It reminds us that God didn't just appear in the world, but that God was birthed through the mess, sweat, and struggle of a woman's labor, ushered forth from her body. Vulnerable, naked, crying, Jesus Christ--God-With-Us--entered this world just like us.
Mary's virginity is a puzzling tenet of Christianity. Yet while I struggle with its credulity, it is something I believe in by faith. Her gestation is ours. As with Mary, God longs to birth Christ in and through us into this broken world. As with Mary, God tries to do something startlingly new in us, and our faithful response must be creative, life-giving obedience. As with Mary, God chooses to be bound to our bodies in order to work in this world, and it takes time, dedication, and willingness to find new ways to love in order to participate in that work.
As we expectantly anticipate these final days towards encountering Christ in that lowly stable, I wonder how we will birth God into the world this year. I wonder with anticipation what new thing God will do in us. I wonder how we will labor with Mary, how we will make her gestation ours, and how, with God's work in us, we will help each other praise the name, Immanuel: how we will know and make known God-With-Us.
Natalie Wigg-Stevenson and her husband, Tyler, have been members of First Baptist Nashville for two years. Natalie is currently in ordination care at First Baptist and has enjoyed co-teaching a Life Change University course (“Citizens in the Kingdom of God”) and attending 1A Sunday School with Tyler. She is a doctoral student in Theological Studies at Vanderbilt University.
The audio version of today's devotional was recorded by Margi Hawkins.
