We went to our church’s Christmas Eve service yesterday evening. Partway through worship someone got up and spoke, and he talked about the wonder of Christmas. I like to think I’m good at wonder, but when I tried to imagine the first Christmas again, I somehow couldn’t. It was too hard to think about the darkness, the stable, the first-century clothes. There was too much music, too many lights, too many people.

The moment wasn’t right, and the magic never happened. But in that moment, I hung on to what I knew:

Emmanuel–God with us. The God who gave up everything to be close to us. The God who can sympathize with our weakness. The God who is still there, even when I can’t see Him or feel Him or touch Him or when I push Him away.

When Simon Peter told Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man,” Jesus answered him, “Don’t be afraid.” And Peter left everything to follow this God (Luke 5:8-11, NIV). Emmanuel is God with us; today, tomorrow, and every day, if we’ll only let Him.

The most important thing about Christmas is that it gives us a second chance to be close to our Creator.

God and sinners reconciled.