Advent 11 - Community and Connection
By Nigel Adams
Christmas is that time of year when most of us make much more of an effort to get together with families, work colleagues, neighbours or friends. Some of them are people we only talk to once a year. At office parties we might actually speak to our colleagues about something other than work, or we manage more than a passing hello to a neighbour and perhaps even invite them round for a drink. And we might give a bit more quality time than usual to friends and family. It’s strange that, at what is often an even busier time than normal, we make a special effort to spend more time with people we care about but have less contact at other times. The phrase, “we must do this more often,” can be almost as common as “Merry Christmas” or “Happy New Year.”
It is really good to re-connect with lots of old friends or distant family and great big parties can be a lot of fun, but I sometimes prefer the opportunity for a really good catch up with close friends and family for a few hours or more – really going deeper in love and companionship. I wish I had the capacity to have more close relationships like that.
I’m so grateful that Jesus, who is Immanuel, God with us, has infinite capacity to be very close to every one of us – to connect deeply with us with love, healing and restoration. It’s ridiculous really that in the whirlwind of Christmas celebrations we can sometimes lose connection with Jesus, and the connections with the people who mean most to us can be fleeting and superficial. Thankfully Jesus is not put off by our forgetfulness or distraction – whenever we give him our attention he is already waiting to listen and to embrace our very souls.
Jesus always leads the way into real life and real hope. It begins and continues with him being Immanuel. This is our destination and example to live by – to be with God and with one another, deeply valuing one another and blessing one another. This kind of community, this kind of connection is what we were designed for, it’s what really brings us joy. When I wrote my book, Communities of Hope this is what I was trying to capture. A story that began with God’s people uniting to meet the needs of our neighbours became a story of how we all discovered the richness of God’s love for all of us. Whether wealthy or poor, we learned to bless one another deeply in the community of Jesus. This Christmas, wouldn’t it be wonderful to kick start that kind of community with your friends and neighbours?
Communities of Hope
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