Christmas Coming ...

Thursday, Dez 19, 2019. Christmas is the celebration of God coming to mankind. It is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Christ. It means the one anointed, which is an image for being prepared and filled with the spirit of God.

The background of Christmas is that as humans we need God to talk to us. We need him to come to us. That is true for mankind as a whole. It is also true for each and every individual person, for you and for me. We all need him.

Why we need him …

We need Jesus for various reasons. There are so many reasons. Let us connect some of them to the image of light, which is used so many times when it comes to God and to Jesus:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. (Jes 9, 1)

Jesus is light for our mind and for our heart. We need God to help us to see things. His spirit can clarify things.

As a scientist, you try to gain understanding in your particular subject area day by day. You know, that you know some things. You also know, that you do not know many other things. A true scientist knows, what he does not know. Fighting the boundaries of knowledge, you find these boundaries. Then you know that there is much beyond. There are so many things we lack insight and understanding, in so many areas of research!

It is quite similar when it comes to the overall framework of our life. Do we understand birth and death? Do we understand ethics properly? What about childhood and growing up? Love and trust, friendship and community. There are so many things we long for. So many things we might not get the way we desire to have them. Finding real friendship, partnership, love, fulfilment. Do you understand life?

Think about this: if the world has been created by God, it will not be surprising that the creator can help us to understand its overall framework. He knows what he did, and he can explain things to us! We need him to talk to us. We need him to understand.

Our hearts …

But fulfilment is not just reason. Humans are more than mere minds. We are more than logic. We are more than work, more than success or power or fame or money. All our work, success, power, fame or money is merely a fraction of what we are and should be. Of course, we are part of all of this. But it does not define us - and if it would, we would be lost completely.

We need God to fill our heart. The longing of our life only comes to peace with his spirit in our heart. He is a heavenly father and a heavenly mother. He is the reference point for our heart. He is the one who completely loves us, completely wants us. That is what we long for. Him and only him, nothing else can fill this void.

We need Christmas so much, since by Jesus he comes to us as a human. Here, he talks to us in the middle of our society. Here, he died for us, to fully destroy what is between him and us. Guilt and shame are all on him. The door is open. That is the message of Christmas, and Easter, and Pentecost in one line of argument.

It is so good that Christmas is coming, if it reaches our heart and our mind. He reached mine, and that is fantastic every single day, hour and minute, again and again. (Roland Potthast)

This is part of the trilogy project “Faith of a Scientist”.