The Nativity story

Yesterday, I had a special time with a couple of friends. I had invited them over for an Advent reflection. We sang some Advent songs and carols, read Scripture and shared how this "waiting time" has been for us. Then we watched "The Nativity Story" a movie that came out a year ago. It was not shown in cinemas here, but I caught it in Singapore last December.

The movie was very meaningful for us. It somehow put 'flesh' on the birth narratives we read. The story of God's intervention in the lives of his people became three dimensional. It actually helped us imaginatively contemplate the whole scene. The people whose lives God entered became very 'real' to us. They were 'real' people, leading mostly quite ordinary lives, with struggles like most of us; yet people of faith.....awaiting the coming of the Messiah. For them, the words of the prophets had remained alive for hundreds of years, passed down from one generation to the next. Just as they awaited the 'first coming', we, God's people today, wait eagerly for the final coming of Jesus as King and Judge. But by God's grace, we have a more developed understanding of how our God, Immanuel, is "with us", right here and now. There is a sense that although we are still waiting people, he is present for us in a different way...now. Not as tangible as we would like, not as concrete, but just as 'real'. This aspect of our faith has been the very special strand that has given me hope and strength for the difficult times, through the many uncertainties I face especially as I think of my illness, and the struggles of family members. It has kept me in hopeful anticipation that I will be able to "see God in all things" and "all things in God". That God took on flesh gives me hope that by learning to be fully human, I would also know what it means to reflect Christ to the world.