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Christmas eve
CHRISTMASTIDE

On Your Team, Always

Monday, DECEMBER 9, 2024

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.

—Philippians 2:5-8 (NRSVA)

Jesus is the picture of God’s love. In becoming human, he “became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14, MSG). Jesus is God-with-us so he could be God’s compassion for us, in word and deed. When he saw someone suffering, he wept with them (John 11:33) and came to their aid (Mark 10:51). He talked with the excluded and marginalized (John 4:7) and ate with the outcasts (Matthew 9:10). There was no one whose illness or status rendered them unapproachable or untouchable (Matthew 8:3). This is the kind of radical compassion that says, I am not just helping you. I am with you. 
 
The American writer Annie Dillard writes, “So once in Israel, love came to us incarnate and stood in the doorway between two worlds, and we were all afraid.”* Maybe we were afraid because we have never been properly introduced to this kind of perfect love. We don’t feel ready to be fully seen and fully known. But what if deep down, this is what we really want? To be loved in this deep and enduring and compassionate way, and to love that way in return.

*Annie Dillard. Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters. (New York: Harper & Row, 1982). 141.


REFLECT

RESPOND

GOING DEEPER

A Blessing for Where Compassion Begins

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