Names are powerful makers of meaning both in the scriptures and in our lives. Consider how much we associate people with their names. A name is merely a word, a sound, yet it can completely represent a person. And our names can be powerful. The texts for the fourth Sunday of Advent invite us to explore the name “Emmanuel.” And he shall be called “Emmanuel,” God with us. This reality changes everything. Never is God so with us as in Jesus of Nazareth. Here is God-made-flesh, and in his very name, the Son of God proclaims just how with us and for us God really is, and yet like Joseph, we need to be still in order to realize that God is with us. So this Advent, in our efforts to “Be the Manger,” we hear a call to stillness so that God can once again be with us in the manger of our hearts.
Menu