Christmas has come. The gifts have been opened, the feast consumed, the wrapping paper taken out with the trash or burned in the fireplace. You might still have visitors visiting, or you might be one of those visitors yourself. Or you might already be back at work, with Christmas day a fading memory.
Did Jesus come again? If you’re reading this, probably not—at least not with the world-ending triumphalism that so many Christians expect. He might have been born again, in a modern-day “stable,” in a small town in an occupied country somewhere. If that’s the case, chances are small that we will know anything about him for a while, even with the worldwide reach of modern-day media. If Christ comes again as a little child, he’s not coming to make headlines.
And so we are still waiting, continuing to live in a spiritually “already, but not yet” world. Christ has come, but the world is still slowly being transformed. There is work to do, and the Holy Spirit is still working within each of us to do it. The Spirit is still using our hands and feet, our ears and hearts, to remake the world in God’s image.
How are you called to use your hands and feet, your ears and heart? What is your task for 2014, as you continue to live faithfully in a world that has already experienced God incarnate in Jesus, but still desperately needs both the message and the work of Christ’s love?
