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If you chose to, you could look up every night when it’s clear and witness and admire the Milky Way Galaxy. When was the last time you did that? There’s so much beauty and wonder we could see if we were looking for it. God is not easy to see, to be clear, but are we even looking? On Christmas Eve, that’s what we’re trying to do: Look for God who came to Earth as a small, vulnerable human being…to save the world. The stories that recount the birth of Jesus tell us that some people witnessed Jesus Christ as a baby, but many did not even though he was “nearby” (Luke 2:8, CEB). This happened when Jesus became an adult, too. As he went around teaching, healing, and saving people, some people saw him and appreciated him for who he was: the Messiah. But more often people discounted him or didn’t notice him at all because he didn’t look powerful or mighty on the surface; he had the look of a poor, working-class nobody. Christmas is the good news of how the “Son of God, love’s pure light” came to the world to be with us and to free the world from the forces of death and sin and darkness. On this night, we want to be on the lookout together for Jesus by entering the story of his birth, by singing carols and by lighting candles. But not only that, we want to be inspired to look for God’s Light beyond Christmas and to live as people filled with the Light of the World.

Related Topics: Advent | More Messages from Ross Stackhouse