Where Are You?
Today, we have heard many stories—from different times and places. Yet they are held together by one question. A question first heard long ago, in a garden. “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9) The man and the woman hid themselves. They were afraid—afraid of being seen as they were. But God did not begin with anger. God began by looking for them. Before people went looking for God, God came looking for them. This is where the story of Christmas begins.
As time passed, the story continued. Abraham was not someone who obeyed because he understood everything clearly. There was fear and uncertainty, yet he did not leave his place before God. Christmas is not only the story of great and heroic faith. It is the story of those who stayed. The prophets spoke of hope in the same way—not sudden brightness, but new life rising from what seemed finished, like a shoot from a cut-down stump. The hope of Christmas begins quietly where there is already weariness.
The story of Mary is the same. She was confused. She asked questions. But she did not run away. She opened this moment of her life to God. Christmas is not proof of perfect faith. It is the courage to receive God’s word here and now.
And then we come to the scene we know well. No room at the inn. A manger. Shepherds keeping watch at night. God’s story did not begin in places of importance or comfort. It began in places people overlooked. Where people hesitated to stay, God chose to stay.
All the readings we have heard today tell us this: God is not distant or far above us. God enters human life. Christmas is our confession that God did not turn away from human time and human space. And so the question remains: “Where are you?” This question is not a rebuke. It is an invitation. Wherever we are—joyful or tired, settled or unsettled—God meets us there. Christmas is not the day our lives suddenly change. It is the day God begins to dwell at the center of our lives. May these ancient stories continue quietly in us after this Eucharist has ended. And may the truth that God is already among us shed light on our lives, slowly and clearly, in the days after Christmas. Amen.