Readings: Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”
When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. (Matthew 1:18-24)
Love
God is love.
God is with us. 
Do we believe this? Is this the way those of us who believe in God are actually living?
I, for one, sometimes feel I’m in this thing alone. That God is not paying attention. That I’m out here on my own. I get caught up in my fear and the waiting for things to change or improve. But in my heart of hearts, I know.
God is love.
God is with us.
This world…the one that includes the atrocities in Aleppo, the election of an evil demagogue, the trafficking of children into slavery…this is the same world where the hungry are fed and the cold are given clothes and the children are adopted into loving families.
God is love.
God is with us.
What if? What if the expression of who God is in the world is on the shoulders of those of us who love and believe in God? What if the world is better when we are better?
We are love.
We are with us.
As we anticipate the coming week filled with Love in anticipation for the Christ child, let’s look for the ways that we can represent God’s love and God’s presence to each person that we encounter.
God is love so that we can be love.
God is with us, so that we can be with one another.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKSU9Dbxvrw[/embedyt]