God's Glory in the Unexpected

Our tendency is to measure someone's status by the way they do things. Important people (or those who would have you think they are important) drive "important people" cars, live in big, "important people" houses, eat at expensive, "important people" restaurants, go to "important people" events, and like to hang out with other important people. There is almost a code of practice for being an important person.

HENRY OWASSA TANNER, “THE ANNUNCIATION” (1898)

You would think that God might be characterized as an "important person"; God the creator of all things, the ruler of everything. There is no doubt that God deserves the title, but the way God comes to be one of us, the Emmanuel, makes us wonder about that status. God chooses an unknown girl whose reputation is about to be destroyed, from an unknown village in a depressed part of the country to smuggle him into our world. Why would God do that when there were lots of other, more flashy, ways an entrance could have been made?

This Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Advent, we will spend some time thinking about God's less than flashy entrance into humanity and what that means for us.