Dear Faith Family,

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:13)

Immanuel, sometimes spelled with "Emmanuel," is a common word this time of year. We hear it in songs, see it on signs, and find it written across cards. In Hebrew, this seasonally familiar word means "God is with us." In truth, this singular word is "the reason for the season"!

There is no Christmas if there is no Immanuel, if what Isaiah prophesied and the ancient creed confesses did not happen, "true God from true God...came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human." One little Hebrew word, Immanuel, sums up the wondrous, history-dividing moment we celebrate this time of year.

But why? Why did God become human?

We celebrate that it happened, "Man's Maker was made man," but why was it necessary? Why would "the infinite, incomprehensible, ineffable reality, transcending all glory and majesty" become something less, something like you and me?

If a simple Hebrew word sums up what we celebrate at Christmas, a simple Greek word sums up why we celebrate Christmas: philanthropia. This one little Greek word means "self-giving love for humanity" and is the background for the same ancient creed's answer for why true God of true God became truly human: "For our sake and our salvation..." (The Nicene Creed).

God's particular and self-abasing love for humanity, for you and for me, is why God is with us. There is no other explanation for God to condescend, for "He, Ruler of the stars...to nurse at His mother's breast...the Bread...hunger...the Foutain thrist, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey...the Truh...be accused of false witness, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength...grow weak; that the Healer...be wounded...Life...die." (St. Augustine) Only love, a particular and self-giving love, could be powerful enough to compel such an action.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Gregory of Nyssa, one of the three "Cappadocian Fathers" from whom the Church owes much of its doctrine of the Trinity, gives context to the why behind the what of Christmas this way:

"Sin, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in the darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Savior; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state?

If the love of humanity [philanthropia] is a proper mark of the divine nature, here, is the explanation you are looking for, here is the reason for God's presence among human beings…"

As we celebrate God with us this season, may the reason why God is with us lead us to humility and compel us to share what we have received.

Love you, faith family**. God bless and Happy Advent!