Immanuel-- why it matters

Every June I start to get excited about Christmas. And when I say "excited," I mean shivers-up-my-spine-can't-stop-smiling-excited. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

I love Christmas in the city. I love the lights. I love singing Christmas carols. I love all the excuses for parties and hanging out with friends and family and even strangers. I love Christmas music. I love shopping for Christmas presents. I even love the Salvation Army bell-ringers (and yes, they're out already!). I love watching A Muppet Christmas Carol with my dad every Christmas-- and quoting from it the rest of the year. I love throwing my annual Christmas party. I love Christmas decorations. I love Starbucks Christmas drinks. I love choosing, transporting, and decorating my Christmas tree(s). I love sitting around the fireplace with my family on Christmas morning. I love trying to think of the best possible gift for my brothers. I love the Christmas Eve service at Tenth. I love that almost everyone loves Christmas.

Believe it or not, I could keep going. But I'm guessing you get the idea by now. I seriously love Christmas.

But every once in a while I start to think about why I really love Christmas. Do I just love the sentimental feel to it? As a hopeless romantic, I know that's definitely a part of it. As a Christian, I know that the reason we celebrate Christmas is Christ's birth-- and that his incarnation is the whole reason I can even have a relationship with God. But to be perfectly honest, for a long time I couldn't quite wrap my mind around why a birth was worth that much celebration. Isn't it just kind of an excuse for lots of parties? I wondered.

Music is a strange thing. There's something about music and songs that can break through some of the biggest mental blocks I've ever had. This internal struggle about Christmas has been no exception. Last year at Tenth we did a weekly Christmas Advent concert series during lunch breaks leading up to Christmas. One of the musicians sang a song that sent chills down my spine (in a good way!) and brought tears to my eyes. He sang Michael Card's "Immanuel" --

Immanuel--
Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us
Immanuel

For all those who live in the shadow of death
A glorious light has dawned
For all those who stumble in the darkness
Behold your light has come

Immanuel
Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us
Immanuel

So what will be your answer?
Will you hear the call?
Of Him who did not spare His son
But gave him for us all
On earth there is no power
There is no depth or height
That could ever separate us
From the love of God in Christ

Immanuel
Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us
Immanuel.

I think that's honestly the first time it really hit me. Christmas is when Jesus really became Immanuel-- really became God with us. And it didn't just end back then when people got to meet Jesus in the flesh. He is still with us. He is still with me. And if God is with me, who can stand against me? What do I have to be afraid of, because I am not alone anymore. I fear loneliness probably more than I fear anything else in the world (even mice, and that's saying a lot); but I am not alone and never will be. Because Jesus is Immanuel, and because of him God is with us.

We sang a Chris Tomlin song at Brooklyn Tab yesterday. I'd never heard it before, but it did the same thing to me that Gary's selection did last year. It's called "Our God," and the chorus goes like this:

Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other.
Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.

My faith is ridiculously weak. I have the most powerful being in the whole universe on my side. And not only that, I have him living in me all the time. What do I have to be afraid of?

So, Christmas is coming. And I really honestly can't wait. I love so much about the season. But my new-found favorite thing-- and the thing I'm going to celebrate the most this year-- is that I'm not just celebrating something that happened 2000+ years ago and doesn't affect me anymore. 2000 years ago God became man and dwelt among us. And 2000 years after that miracle, I-- living here in Brooklyn-- still get to reap the benefits of that gift because God is still with me.

And if my God is for me, then who could ever stop me?
And if my God is with me, then what could stand against?