Spiritual Hiccups - Salvation Comes

In one more day, church pews will swell as people gather to celebrate the birth of a Savior.  It is easy to understand why the promise and hope of Jesus' birth draws lots of folks.  The notion of God with us, God for us, is incredibly compelling.  And the nativity story from Luke's gospel is so well known - even if you never have been to a church, you've at least heard in from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" - that many people don't feel like it's Christmas without hearing those words once more.

But as wonderful as those Christmas Eve services are, they are not without some difficulties for people of deep faith.  As an interesting piece in the New York Times, "A Tough Season for Believers," pointed out, Christmas Eve can be a troublesome reminder of how the Christmas story has become just another piece of seasonal entertainment for many Americans, along with going to the Nutcracker and watching "Miracle on 34th Street."

But some of the trivialization of Christmas may be our own doing.  We celebrate the birth of a Savior, but we often have defined salvation so narrowly that it's no wonder it doesn't carry much freight with the culture.  For many of us, salvation means little more than getting our tickets validated for heaven.  But this spiritualizing of salvation doesn't fit well with the biblical witness or with Jesus' own words.  Jesus speaks of a kingdom where God's will is done on earth, a rule that he insists has "drawn near."  Matthew's story of Jesus' birth takes pains to connect Jesus' story to that of Moses, to portray Jesus as a new Moses who rescues us. 

And today's psalm gives a good picture of what God's rescue and salvation looks like.
   I love you, O LORD, my strength.
   The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
         my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
         my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
   I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
         so I shall be saved from my enemies.
   The cords of death encompassed me;
         the torrents of perdition assailed me;  
   the cords of Sheol entangled me;
         the snares of death confronted me.
   In my distress I called upon the LORD;
         to my God I cried for help.
   From his temple he heard my voice,
         and my cry to him reached his ears.
   Then the earth reeled and rocked;
         the foundations also of the mountains trembled
         and quaked, because he was angry.

The Christmas story is about a God who takes decisive action to save, to bring the world back to its senses, to restore and set right.  It is not simply a moment of warmth to cheer us at this time of year.  It is the promise that God is active in human history, that God will bend human history to God's desire.

We modern people have become used to relegating God to a narrow, spiritual sphere that does not hold sway over large portions of our lives.  But Christmas insists that God comes surprisingly into the day to day.  It insists that God's salvation will stop at nothing short of a redeemed and restored world for all.

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