God's Embodied Love

The Magi come asking, "Where is the One born to be the Saviour?" (AP). People all around us are asking that question. Day in and day out, whether they or we realize it, people express in countless ways the yearning to know and be known by God. We have the privilege of helping them to come to know that God is real, that evil will not have the last word, that even a world where innocents are killed can be transformed if we will allow ourselves to be transformed.
The wonder of God's coming is this: God doesn't want to be our business partner, to relate to us as a favoured relative, to live near us or even with us. God wants to live in us and through us. As Matthew 5:14 tells us, we are the light of the world. We are meant to be God's embodied love. When we obey the claims of Christ, we are God's continuing incarnation. Embracing one person at a time, we help those we meet to believe that they matter and that they are embraced by God.

- Mary Lou Redding in "WHILE WE WAIT: Living the Questions of Advent" (Nashville, Tenn.: Upper Room Books, 2002)