I have a dear friend Richard who loves old cars. He and his buddies will tinker with their cars in garages that are the envy of anyone who has a car hobby. They can rebuild engines, fabricate new parts, restore rusted metal or find just the right screw to reattach some piece. Their garages are their special haven where they congregate, talk, and work together. 

In recent years, one of Richard’s car buddies went through a long two years as his wife struggled with cancer and eventually died. During those years, Richard would show up at his friend’s garage almost daily. Sometimes they would sit in silence, sometimes they would talk, and sometimes they would work on a project together. But mostly, Richard would just be there. Present, with a man who was watching his wife fade, someone he loved very dearly. It was a ministry of simply being present even when there were no words to share that could comfort. He was there with his friend. He was present.

This is what Jesus did when he entered this world in a squalid manger. The unapproachable God became approachable. The one who could not be seen became seen. The One who formed the universe, entered the universe. The creator became like the created. 

In his Gospel, John makes this very point. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” John 1:1-5. And then he says in verse 14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

A literal reading of that verse says that The creator, the Word, became flesh and pitched his tent among us. He camped among us. He came to be present with us in our humanity, in our joys, and in our sorrows. Like Richard with his friend, God came to be with us in our situation! This is why the name Emmanuel is so powerful. Emmanuel means “God with us.” In the incarnation, God came to be with us and through His Holy Spirit, God is with us daily, fully present. And having experienced the joys, sorrows, challenges, and the stuff of life, He fully knows our situations. After all, He became flesh and lived among us. We can have the confidence that He understands.

We live the Advent life when we enter into the life and pain of another by choosing to be present with them as God is present with us. It is a choice to enter into the messy situations of others, as Jesus did in a messy stable, but more importantly into our messy lives. He was and is present with us and he invites us to be present in the lives of others. That is what it means to live the Advent life. Just as Richard did. Just as Jesus did.

Father, thank you for entering our world, and my life, as God with us. Emmanuel. Just as you did this for me, would you help me to enter into the lives of others who need your touch and be present with them. Amen.