So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

                        Luke 2:16-19

Unbounded Love

Advent is a time of preparation and longing. Our hearts are drawn back to this miraculous and mysterious moment in history where God became flesh and dwelt amongst us.  The incarnation of his love and redemption was poured out to the rabble and the rich, the pious and the gentile, the prophet and the skeptic.  This blind love is freely given to every heart that is ardently holding on to the hope of his grace, love, and atonement.  Our whole being longs to remember the moment, the impetus of Jesus’ ministry and salvation, and it is in the very story of his birth that we find a demonstration of his humanity and the accessibility of his loving salvation.  

And so we remember when God put on our human frailty and was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.  We picture him lulled to sleep by the cadence of dewy breath and snores of livestock; we envision the dirt floor his travel-weary parents lay on and the sweet smell of fresh hay intermingled with manure that permeated his birthing room. And all the while this earthliness is bathed in the radiance of the eastern star, washed by his father’s glory.  

Jesus was born in primitive circumstance even while heralded by a heavenly host of angels: born a king, but announced not to kings, dignitaries or priests, but to peasants. Jesus, in the very beginning, shows the lengths he will go to bring salvation and the depths of his boundary-less love. How can our hearts not be stirred?

Chera Yorke,
Hillside Baptist Church, Moncton, NB, CABC