Expectation – Melanie W. Gibbons

We’ve heard the story so often that we can tell it without preparation, notes, or prompting: God’s son, born to an unwed, teenage girl in a podunk town, in a stable. We know in our heads that this situation was…unexpected…for the setting of the coming of the Messiah. We know it threw some folks. Went unnoticed by many. From our 10,000 foot view lo these many years later, we also know the rest of the story. So it’s hard to truly put ourselves in that place of surprise, wonder, or to understand the even skepticism of some, or the total failure to recognize what was going on.

The beauty of the familiar is that it is comfortable and can be grounding. The danger of the familiar is that sometimes we overlook important things we think we know. In the video linked below, a very familiar story is imagined and enacted by a group of children who tell it from a slightly different perspective. It never ceases to touch my heart. When I watched it again this week, it brought not only tears but a longing, and a prayer from deep in my spirit: “Oh God, please help us see you where we least expect you. Please help us pay attention.”

So go ahead and watch the video below. Go on. Yes, now, before you continue reading. If you don’t, fair warning that there’s going to be a spoiler in the next paragraph….

Ok, did you watch it? It made you smile, didn’t it? Maybe even tear up a little? Here’s the spoiler – my favorite part, that never ceases to get me and make me catch my breath, is when the angels ask, even beg, God to let them sing for the baby Jesus. The expressions on their faces and emotion in their voices are so full of love. Deep, abiding love. “Can we sing for him? Please, can we sing for him?”

And so here this week we’ve been reflecting on the various music of the season that speaks to our souls. Do you feel that love when you think of your favorite pieces? I’ve noticed that when I risk opening my heart to the love of Christ coming into my brokenness, into the world’s brokenness, that my heart fills up so fast it feels as though what is inside can’t be contained. I bet you’ve felt that urge to open your mouth and let lose with songs of joy and hope, of peace longed for, of deep love and thankfulness for the perfect gift of God’s own child, too.

I also imagine God’s heart must have filled with joy then, and continue to fill with joy now, when hearts beg to sing, when voices burst out because keeping the song inside is unfathomable.

And as we know from the story, the angels didn’t sing their overflowing songs to kings or princes or the wealthy or important or a large audience. They sang to shepherds. People on the margins of society. Probably a little rough and tumble. Definitely not expecting a divine spectacle of song in the heavens that night.

Who in your world might not be expecting to be at the top of your list to receive that joyful message? I know I’ve been reflecting a lot recently on the various broken pieces of our bigger world, and wondering what the right response is. Wondering where God is in the midst of that brokenness.

The message of Advent and Christmas is that God is here. This is love. Emmanuel. God with us.

Emmanuel. God with us. Not behind bulletproof glass or an iron-willed secretary that keeps the calendar and controls the phone. Not God catching up to us or letting us go into the dark alone. God with us. Here. Now. Ahead of us. Behind us. Beside us. God who is love, so big we can’t begin to get our heads or hearts around it or really see it from our limited point of view, yet small enough to fit into all the cracks in our fragile hearts and facades.

This is the unexpected gift of Advent. Living in the tension of the reality of now and the kingdom that is coming every day, whether we notice it or not. We see the destination – be it Christmas Day, or the new heaven and new earth – but we aren’t quite there. We live with expectation and anticipation.

I invite you to open your hearts with me to look for the vulnerable, humble Christ in all these difficult places of our lives, our communities, our world. I have a feeling that once we catch a glimpse of Him, we’ll be surprised at the love that comes overflowing out of our hearts, overflowing into the cracks and fissures and even canyons that mark the brokenness.

And what of those at the center of the brokenness? What of those on your list who might not be expecting to hear a message of love from you? We can never predict how they might react – but to quote the message of the video, we can be sure “they won’t be expecting that.” May you find the Christ child in the unexpected this Advent, and bring the love you find there into the fragile and broken places in your heart and in the world. I’m confident the results will be brilliant.

An Unexpected Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM1XusYVqNY

Melanie Gibbons is an expectant mom who lives with her husband, Damien, in Catonsville, Md. She serves as the Quilt & Kit Ministry Manager at Lutheran World Relief, an international relief and development organization. Melanie is a lifelong Lutheran and lover of music.