How God Enters the World Matters

When we turn toward Advent, the name on our lips is Emmanuel, God with us. So much in Christian faith relies on what the faithful actually mean when we say that name. Western Christianity has forsaken a deep understanding of Advent for strands of twinkling lights and the anticipation of seasonal pleasures. When we accept sentimental expressions and concede to holiday hurry, we miss the original gravity of Advent. We miss understanding how God’s arrival, how God with us, shapes our ability to see the breaking in of God into a landscape, a people, a narrative—and what the earthly trajectory of the life of Jesus implied then and implies now.

How God entered the world matters. Where and when God chose to come into the world carries significance. Advent is not about one season of devotion; rather, the advent narratives orient us toward a lifetime of faithfulness to the God of liberation, love, and peace. The stories told around and about the birth of Jesus set our sights on a deep theology for troubled times, then and now. Advent pays attention to the people, places, and politics of generations awaiting God’s arrival.