Those who attended church this last Sunday may have seen a word in their bulletin or on a banner hung in the sanctuary or on a sign out front that was unfamiliar to them. That word is “immanuel”, and in case it wasn’t explained to last Sunday you should know that it means “God with us.” This word is often used as a name for Jesus, for while he was here on earth he was literally “God with us.” As we’ve been speaking about the “why” of Jesus’s birth we have made mention of this idea but today I want explore it in deeper and more meaningful way. Quite simply, the answer we need to ask ourselves is this: does the idea of God being present before me evoke feelings of terror or relief?

Those born in the 1940’s and 50’s often have a self-reliant view of like. They express success in life as having “pulled myself up by me boot straps” or “I’ve made something of myself.” This view is very self-centered, but not in a selfish way. In fact, most of that generation gives more to charity and to their children than any generation before or since. Their children were given much and therefor did not find satisfaction in being their own person. Instead, they found satisfaction in belonging to a group and feeling that they are somehow more than they could be alone when with those whom they count among their friends. The young adults growing up now has been labeled the “entitlement generation”, a description I think is unfair. Their attitude isn’t that they deserve to have life handed to them because of who they are, rather they believe that the opportunities that their parents and grandparents had no longer exist and therefore they ought to be given meaningful jobs with good pay and benefits and a life worth living. What all of these views have in common is they place a person’s “self” at the center of defining the meaning of life.

Making oneself part of the definition of the meaning of life isn’t always a bad thing, as long as we are honest with ourselves about who we are. If we are honest, then we know that there is a gap between who we are and who we present ourselves to be. That gap is very important to understand. Why do we present ourselves in a better light than we exist in? Because we know we aren’t as “good” as we should be. We may strive to be as good as the person we project, which is honorable; others may project an image to hide who they really are, which is deceitful. The bottom line is this: we know we could be better people than we are. In Bible terms, this means we all recognize that we are sinners.

Some of our more theologically advanced reader’s will say I’m doing a disservice to the term “sinner” as “sin” is a word that compares our current condition to the holiness of God, not to the person we want to be, which is entirely accurate. I counter that we only know we that we can be a better person because there is a holy God to compare ourselves to. Regardless, we all fall short of our own expectations and therefore must conclude that, should God exist, we must fall short of His too. Many do not give God’s expectations much thought, however, because he appears distant and unconcerned. What if he wasn’t? What if God were not distant or unconcerned, and instead was in our presence, Immanuel? Would that change anything?

I’m betting God’s presence would change a lot about how we live our lives. For some the concept of God suddenly entering our social sphere would frightening, for some it would evoke anger and rebellion, and for others it would be a great comfort. Why the difference in attitude? Because for some God is a Judge, and for others he is a Savior. At the end of our physical lives our immortal spirit is ushered into the presence of God and we should know what role he will play in our eternal life. Will he be our judge? Or will he be our savior? That is what Christmas is all about.