We are now squarely in the last few days before Christmas. The “O antiphons” have begun, and with those ancient words attached to the Magnificat in the seven days preceding Christmas Eve, I always feel a kind of intensified waiting. The King is almost at the door, hand poised close to the wood, ready to knock. And we are invited to let him in.

In these last days leading up to the Feast of the Nativity, it is helpful to pause for a minute to behold the mystery before us. This mystery cuts through tinsel and frantic last-minute shopping. At the risk of sounding trite, this mystery is what this season is all about. This season is all about God coming close to us, closer than we could ever imagine.

For me, this is most powerfully visualized in a pattern of icon from the Eastern Orthodox tradition. In this eleousa icon, Mary cradles the infant Jesus in her arms, and Jesus cranes his neck up towards Mary’s face, pressing his own face tightly against her cheek. His arms hug her. In this image, God is closer to humanity that we could ever imagine. God is scandalously close, and I dare say that in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions (and Anglicanism draws heavily from these), it’s not considered presumptuous to imagine God being so close to us. But in the extreme Reformed traditions, it’s, sadly, almost blasphemous to imagine God being so close, and perhaps even more blasphemous to imagine our ability to share in the divine life because God drew so close to us in the incarnation. But as we prepare for Christmas, I want to focus our minds and hearts on God’s drawing close to humanity in Christ.

This drawing close says everything about who we are in God’s eyes. While we are sinners, still God has not pulled away from us. God comes close, every day. It’s we who often draw back, shameful or perhaps proudly wallowing in our frailty, a kind of perverse logic for holding ourselves back from God’s embrace.

Right now, in the ever-darkening days before Christmas, let’s focus on God drawing close so that we might draw closer to God. I recently explored what this looks like in thinking of the eleousa icon and the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a sermon preached at the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, New York City for the Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. If you’re interested, you can listen to that sermon here. As I said in that sermon, God’s call in the garden to Adam and Eve was “where are you?” when they attempted to hide from him. God still calls us to us, “where are you?” The question we might ask this Christmas is, “why do we try to hide from the One who is closer to us than we are to ourselves? “

At Christmas, we might be tempted to hide: hide from our unwieldy lives by binge shopping, hide from others by withdrawing into ourselves, hide from God because we are angry at God, hide from joy because we are feeling sorry for ourselves. It’s true that for many this season is a difficult one. That should not be denied. But the good news of this season is that, although we may try to hide from God, God still reaches out to us, drawing us close.

In the coming days, I encourage you to spend some time in quiet prayer with God. Perhaps the eleousa icon will be helpful. Imagine Jesus cradling his face against yours. If you feel ashamed or harmed by the Church in the past, stay with this beautiful image. If you are worn out by this overfunctioning season, rest in the arms of the God who always holds us close. At least for a few days, try not to run away from God.

If you are in town this Christmas, I do hope you will make time to celebrate this great feast of God drawing close to us by attending Mass on Christmas Eve at 6 p.m. and/or on Christmas Day at 10:30 a.m. Both Masses will feature choral music, and the readings and music for these Masses are different. If you can, attend both! I am grateful for all who are working so hard to make our liturgies happen once again this year: our staff, acolytes, choir, liturgical participants, and those who decorate the church for the feast. Thank you. This year, however you may be feeling and in whatever situation you may be, I pray that you may know the unending, unimaginable love of God who always reaches out to us and will hold us close forever. And may God bless you and yours during this Christmastide.

Yours in Christ,
Father Kyle