18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. When Mary his mother was engaged to Joseph, before they were married, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph her husband was a righteous man. Because he didn’t want to humiliate her, he decided to call off their engagement quietly. 20 As he was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child she carries was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 Now all of this took place so that what the Lord had spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled:

23 Look! A virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son,
And they will call him, Emmanuel.

(Emmanuel means “God with us.”) — Matthew 1:18-23

The beauty of Christmas is found in the event of God being with us. He is not “God over in Jerusalem,” or “God over in Mecca,” or “God over in Rome.”

He is God with us.

What he has tried to communicate to humanity all along is brought into human form to gift us with the clearest possibility of understanding the Father. The Word pitched his tent among us. 

We see the fullness of grace and truth.

Christmas is powerful because we can witness once again this great act of communication and the powerful realization all over again: God is WITH us.

Today.

Here.

In what we need. In what we go through. WITH us.