The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means “God with us”).
Matthew 1.23

Kia ora

I feel like I write this to some extent every year, but again as I reflect on the last 12 months I’m really grateful for the reminder that Christmas gives us that God truly is with us. More than summer, holidays, food, and even family, this is the reminder I most need at the end of another year.

You probably don’t need me to list what’s gone down this year in a local, national or global sense, though I’m still reeling from the Israel-Palestine conflict particularly after having been there so recently and been so deeply impacted by the people and stories I heard. Across the board, there’s plenty to reflect on. No doubt each of us have things in our own personal or family lives which we feel more keenly, for good or bad, as we reach the end of the year.

It’s good to reflect that across the Biblical story, we see that theme of God being with humanity over and over again. God promises to Moses to be with the people in the wilderness through the tabernacle: “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.” This is a roaming God, who chooses to be with the unsettled tribes, wherever they go. God goes with them, not the other way round. That’s immensely comforting as we also go about our lives which are often marked by our own versions of wilderness, unknown outcomes, and uncomfortable or liminal spaces.

In Isaiah 7:14 the prophet gives King Ahaz the promise of the Messiah to come which Matthew references as he introduces Jesus at the start of his gospel, quoted at the top of this Bishop’s News. At this point in time, Judah was at risk of annihilation by a coalition of forces, yet God again is promising a future. And what’s more, this is a promise given to Ahaz, who himself was hardly a paragon of virtue.

God continues to still be with us, in the face of our poor decisions, our weakness, in our broken systems, in the face of the forces of division in our world. The prophet Jeremiah writes: ‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ (Jeremiah 29.11). My prayer is that each of us will know the truth of this again deep within our souls, and will experience ‘God with us’, journeying closer than a heartbeat in both the joys and challenges this season brings.

+Justin