Offering hope

The first Christmas is a refugee story.

And yet, it is also a story of hope. God shows up in the flesh—as one of the marginalized. God shows up in the flesh in a dirty stable, as a vulnerable baby, to a terrified young homeless couple on the margins of society.

It is this God in the flesh–this Immanuel, “God with us”–who will come to bring good news to the poor, give release to the captives, bring sight to the blind and let the oppressed go free.

And it is this God–the one who personally understands us in our human suffering–who shows up in our most lonely and fearful moments, offering us hope.

This message was adapted from the December 2014 Café faith reflection, “An Advent Call Story” by by Emily Heitzman.