November/December 2021
If we didn’t know it before, the months of this pandemic have certainly taught us the meaning of the word “virtual”. For close to two years now, so much of our interaction – even with the people we love – has been “from a distance”. Sometimes it’s been through a screen, other times over the phone, and occasionally from two metres away. All of that has left us hungry for something more: real face-to-face human contact, like we used to know.
At the time of Jesus’ birth, there were similar longings, including a longing for a closer connection with God. Some believed that God had ceased to speak to his people. Brief moments of hope had been eclipsed by harsh realities that suggested that the glory days were over. Some had gone to seek God in the wilderness because they weren’t sure they could find Him in the Temple any longer. People longed for something more.
And then came what we call “the incarnation”: ‘the Word [of God] became flesh and lived among us’ (John 1:14). When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, God was virtual no longer. This Christmas we invite you to join us in discovering what it meant for people – and what it can means for us -- to encounter God face-to-face.
