We are told that many people get depressed at Christmastime because their expectations are too high, and the reality of Christmas can't live up to them.
How about expecting a baby in a manger to be God! That was beyond anybody's expectation. Yet the angel announces to the shepherds and to us that this child is not only Savior and Messiah, but God. This is as unexpected as the brightness of full noon bursting upon the world at midnight. Yet that's what Christmas is celebrating. That's the heart of the Christmas mystery: God became flesh and made his home among us.
God didn't just come into town, defeat the bad guys, and ride off into the sunset, like the hero in a western movie. God moved into our world to stay. God loves us enough to remain here, to be part of our lives, really to be part of humanity, to live in us for good.
So we can keep our expectations for Christmas as high as we like. We won't be disappointed: a child who is Savior, Messiah, and God.
Just as the sun rose this morning in the east behind the camera it reflected off the windows of a house on a hill northwest of me.
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