O Come, O Come Emmanuel Verse 3

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might

Who to thy tribes on Sinai's height

 In ancient times didst give the law

In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

 It's a huge part of the Christmas story, but I think both Advent and Christmas itself don't give nearly as much attention to just how much Israel was not getting what they expected in Jesus's grand arrival.  We talk about the child in the manger being the "simple" reason for the season rather than all this pomp and circumstance; we talk about the humility of Hit birth as a statement.

But it's so easy to forget the Elijah parable where God was not in the thunderstorm but in the soft wind.

I spent a lot of my life waiting for the angel to arrive in glory.  There is a brief period of time in which I mean that quite literally.  I wanted a mission, and I wanted God to tell me what it is.  We all go through a period of wanting to know what our lives are going to be like already -- tired of living in the glorious suspense of where we will end up.  I imagine many true believers have wondered when their angel will appear.

And now I'm back thinking about the This American Life episode "Nobody's Family is Going to Change" which is a brilliant holiday message not because it's uplifting but because it's an important thing to remember post-uplifting holidays so you don't have a dismal, bitter January.

However, one of the stories, at least, is about genuine change.  A young man converts to Christianity and unfortunately gets caught between a confusing power play between two on-campus organizations.  So he does the sensible thing in his budding religious story -- he goes to the highest hilltop and prays until God helps him settle things to his satisfaction.

After several hours, he speaks in tongues and has profound emotions and peace and comes just short of describing it as a vision.  Probably because he used that word with the wrong person one time and had to explain that he didn't need meds.

What struck me listening, what has stayed with me since, is the thought of how many soft winds -- or unremarkable babies born in stables -- he ignored before God and/or his guardian angel just said, "Oh hang it, just give him the lot!"

I think it was a sign of hope and respect for us that Jesus came simply.  That he changed the game on us.  That we are growing and maturing as a people.  That we don't need a miracle to be literally happening in front of us to believe that we are in the presence of God.  We don't need to stare down the unharmed but burning bush to know that God is speaking.

And all of the rhetoric about seeing Jesus in our fellow man -- perhaps that's another sign of advancing as a species.  We don't need to see God only in a perfect man, who is also God, but for a brief moment shining out of an ordinary sinner of clay.  Just like us.