This morning a friend posted a photo of a Christmas tree strapped to the roof of his car with his wife and children poking their gleeful faces out from the open windows. His caption read, the time of year when we all fall in love.

The next image on my feed was of a woman in anguish, cradling a baby as she ran from tear gas at the border. Tears filled my eyes as I allowed myself to begin to feel a mere ounce of her terror.

I can鈥檛 help but wrestle with the complexity of the season. It鈥檚 a time of anticipation, joy, and hope. Or so the songs go. Yes, and I believe there is more to the story.

I鈥檝e been slowly reading and rereading Matthew and Luke鈥檚 account of the birth of Christ, and I have been so struck by how close this 2,000-year-old narrative is to the questions and struggles I鈥檓 witnessing in the world around me.

As we prepare to enter Advent, a liturgical season of anticipating the arrival of Jesus鈥� coming鈥攚hat is there for us to receive, in this cultural moment?

Mary鈥檚 Receptivity

Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of the house of David; and the virgin鈥檚 name was Mary. And coming to her, the angel said, 鈥淕reetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.鈥�
She was greatly perplexed at what he said, and kept carefully considering what kind of greeting this was.

The angel said to her, 鈥淒o not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Listen carefully: you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and eminent and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob (Israel) forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.鈥�

Mary said to the angel, 鈥淗ow will this be, since I am a virgin and have no intimacy with any man?鈥� Then the angel replied to her, 鈥淭he Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you [like a cloud]; for that reason the holy (pure, sinless) Child shall be called the Son of God.

And listen, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For with God nothing [is or ever] shall be impossible.鈥� Then Mary said, 鈥淏ehold, I am the servant of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.鈥� And the angel left her.

Luke 1:26-38, AMP

How bizarre is this story? Mary, a teenage girl, a virgin, is asked to bear a child鈥擥od鈥檚 son. I鈥檓 struck by the boldness of this request. Luke says that Mary was 鈥減erplexed鈥� and 鈥渁fraid.鈥� I can only imagine!

I鈥檓 struck by Gabriel, sent by God to ask Mary to bear this Holy child. How do I hold this in my mind and body and spirit as I process our collective struggle with consent?

When I let myself draw near to Mary鈥檚 experience I feel such vulnerability in her consent鈥攕he made a choice to receive even though it might ruin her. She allows herself to be undone, for the sake of something beyond comprehension.

鈥淢ary allows herself to be undone, for the sake of something beyond comprehension.鈥�

Joseph鈥檚 Belief

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by [the power of] the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her [promised] husband, being a just and righteous man and not wanting to expose her publicly to shame, planned to send her away and divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 鈥淛oseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus (The Lord is salvation), for He will save His people from their sins.鈥� All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet [Isaiah]: 鈥淏ehold, the virgin shall be with child and give birth to a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel鈥濃�攚hich, when translated, means, 鈥淕od with us.鈥�

Then Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and he took Mary [to his home] as his wife, but he kept her a virgin until she had given birth to a Son [her firstborn child]; and he named Him Jesus (The Lord is salvation).

Matthew 1:18-25, AMP

Again, how bizarre is this story?! Two teenagers, yet to be married, navigating pregnancy. I can only imagine the whispers, questions, judgement, and shame. Do you think people believed Mary鈥檚 story? I am doubtful.

And yet, Joseph chose to believe Mary. He chose to receive Mary as his wife. He chose to honor her body. And he chose to adopt Jesus as his son. Let鈥檚 sit with this for a moment.

How do I hold this in my mind and body and spirit as I sit with women and men who have been assaulted or abused, yet not believed? As I witness protestors in our streets and at our nation鈥檚 Capitol shouting, 鈥淏elieve women鈥�?

What does God鈥檚 choice to enter the world in this way teach us about consent? About receptivity? About belief?

Seeking Asylum

Now when they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 鈥淕et up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod intends to search for the Child in order to destroy Him.鈥�

So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet [Hosea]: 鈥淥ut of Egypt I called My Son.鈥�

Matthew 2:13-15

Jesus, son of God, was part of two caravans in his earliest days. The first in utero, when Mary was at full term in her pregnancy, to be counted in the census. The second, when Jesus was likely still a baby, as his parents fled a brutal ruler.

I have been following work over the past month. She has brought profoundly heart-breaking humanity to the stories of the thousands of women, men, and children walking in a caravan through Central America seeking asylum. As I鈥檝e witnessed their fierce determination and sheer desperation compelling them to walk thousands of miles, I can鈥檛 help but connect their experiences to that of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. These stories, these faces undo me.

I feel that we tend to focus on the 鈥渃uteness鈥� of Jesus鈥� birth in our Nativity scenes and Christmas pageants. Holding this ancient narrative with the present struggle of our southern neighbors, I鈥檓 reexperiencing the dark, desperate, terrifying reality of Jesus鈥� coming.

Allowing Myself to Be Undone

Jesus was born in a barn, to teenage parents experiencing displacement, in a country governed by a vengeful ruler, forced to flee for any hope of survival. This is the way God chose for his son to come into the world.

It鈥檚 scandalous.
It鈥檚 not safe.
It鈥檚 full of uncertainty and fear.
It鈥檚 life at the margins.

Advent invites us to radical hospitality鈥攖he son of God born to asylum seekers in a barn. How startling. How bizarre.

I believe the Advent narrative is an invitation to be undone by the broken world that God chose to break into and indwell. If we believe that Emmanuel is still God with us, if we believe each of us bear the image of God within us, will we receive the Christ child anew, embodied in the least of these today? Will we receive this invitation to consent, to believe, to receive, to protect, to honor鈥攅ven when the impulse is to deny, reject, defend, and kill?

May we hold the complexity of this season with integrity and courage. May we be reminded that God is with us and that we belong to each other. May we continue to welcome our incarnate God, even when it turns our world upside down. May we know love and may we resist evil.

All through Advent, we will continue exploring our individual and collective responses to the in-breaking of God in the midst of our traumatized world. You can sign up for our fifth annual Advent series, emailed every Sunday until Christmas, here.

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Greg Milford, a 2006 alumnus of 天美视频鈥檚 counseling program, recommended the conference to many friends and family members because of the deep impact Dan鈥檚 teaching had on his own marriage while a student many years ago. 鈥淚 was excited to invite friends and family to the conference knowing that Dan would invite us all in stories and with good, biblical teaching to not settle for tepid marriages,鈥� Greg said. 鈥淢y wife and I experienced his teaching in our first three years of marriage in Seattle and believe it set us on a path to have a highly redemptive marriage that we would not have found on our own. Dan illuminates God’s design for marriage as one that challenges our fundamental contempt for that which is different than us to enable the giving and receiving of a total gift of ourselves to one another in joy to the glory of God. What I heard from my friends who came was confirmation that Dan’s teaching and stories were amazing, and that they were deeply enriched and moved during the conference.鈥�

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In tandem with the simulcast of The Justice Conference, 天美视频 hosted pre-conference workshops facilitated by Dr. Caprice D. Hollins, Dr. Ron Ruthruff, Rev. Dr. Liz Mosbo VerHage, and Richard Kim, MDiv. We connected with Richard, who also serves as 天美视频鈥檚 Intercultural Credibility Coordinator, after the event to learn more about the conversations taking place during the conference and our role as a community and a city to carry on The Justice Conference鈥檚 message.

天美视频: What were some prominent conversations happening during the pre-conference workshops at 天美视频? How do these conversations reflect/impact the Seattle community? 天美视频 community?

Richard Kim: Seattle has a vibrant and diverse justice community and my co-facilitator, Rev. Dr. Liz Mosbo VerHage, and I were able to meet a lot of amazing passionate people doing good work. Events like The Justice Conference create important opportunities to step back from the work of justice to think about the why, how, and consider for whom and by whom the work of justice is done. Each participant brought with them a unique experience, perspective and voice to the conversation.

People in Seattle are wrestling with the important issues locally and globally. An important conversation I recognized is the challenges arising from a rapidly changing culture. Whether it鈥檚 neighborhoods wrestling with changes from demographic shifts or considering technologies impact on justice work, people are becoming more aware of the impact of culture which reveals some of the inherent complexity of justice work.

In recognizing how culture shapes us and our perception of others, we are able to better engage others for the goodness of all. Seattle is a unique place with a culture all its own. Engaging in conversations like The Justice Conference Seattle, 天美视频 is able to lend a voice to a necessary conversation both as an institution that has something to say and one that recognizes the importance of listening well.

天美视频: What were your thoughts The Justice Conference itself? What were some of the main take-aways and how can 天美视频 participate in carrying on the message of The Justice Conference?

Richard: The Justice Conference provided many great opportunities to connect with local people who are passionate about justice. Justice is a complicated subject because it is one of those categories that calls us to critically engage ourselves and others. The conversation my co-facilitator, Rev. Dr. Liz Mosbo VerHage, and I hoped to facilitate was to speak to the complexity of justice work using the lens of culture and identity.

We often don鈥檛 realize just how much our identities and values are shaped by place. Without the ability to be critically aware of that fact, people risk simply living out of their own subjective sensibilities. The work of justice is based on mutuality for the common good. If we fail to do the work of critically engaging ourselves, we run the risk of simply casting our values on to others with dire consequences.

天美视频 plays an important role as an institution that trains graduates to engage in the work of justice. We offer students the skills necessary to be attuned to others interpersonally and attentive to the impact of experiences through the lens of text, soul and culture. By being active in these conversations internally and with the surrounding community locally and globally, we become active participants with the ability to impact and be impacted.

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Dan spoke to a packed crowd on how fear and hatred of shame has warped the human experience and how Christ frees us from this curse. He also held a special breakout session to discuss the consequences of sin on gender, sexuality, and how the church must address sexual violence against women as a part of God’s mission of redemption.

After the conference, we spoke to Tyler Charles, a college minister serving at Dan鈥檚 alma mater, Ohio Wesleyan University, about the value of Dan鈥檚 message for college students. 鈥淚 think Dan modeled openness and vulnerability in a way that is incredibly important,鈥� Tyler said. 鈥淢any college students seem reluctant to acknowledge regret or shame. They might be open about their circumstances in the past and present, but their honesty almost serves as an assertion that they’re not ashamed. But we all experience shame. And it’s through acknowledging it that we can find healing鈥�. I think Dan’s message forced them to acknowledge and confront the shame they feel, but his message also pointed to the potential for healing鈥�. That kind of hope is a beautiful thing, something that everyone needs.鈥�

Photo by Andrew Rush for Coalition for Christian Outreach

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