Advent. Coming. The celebration of the incarnation.
 
Why?  Not why celebrate; if any event in the course of human history called for celebration, it is this one.  But why did God choose to “become flesh and dwell among us”? Why leave the glory of heaven for the travails and rejection of this world?  Why face the pain of the cross?
 
The answer is actually quite simple in its profoundness, “for God so loved the world . . .”
 
Wasn’t there an easier way?  In a word, “No.” For you see, love is not remote; it requires engagement, involvement.  It is not sufficient to sit in the realm of the eternal and love distantly. The incarnation of God in Christ was the absolutely inevitable result of the overwhelming love the Father has for us. Of course God became man; His nature made it requisite. Love meant walking alongside us, experiencing our pain, and living the life of a man.
 
So what does Advent demand of us? That we live as the incarnation of the One who once walked with us.
 
One billion children in poverty. Twenty-six thousand die every day from hunger-related illness. One hundred million social and biological orphans. For them, our distant love is not enough. All our positive thoughts and compassion will not fill an empty stomach, dry a tear of pain, or provide a warm bed.
 
We must be Christ for them. That means that in this season of Advent, we give, of ourselves, of our time, of our resources.
 
Because Love comes.