Grasping and Giving

Christmas Unwrapped: Clairmont's 2015 Advent Devotional Read Philippians 2:5-11. Grasping and giving: the two concepts are at odds with each other. Jesus while still in perfect communion with the triune God-head, finds it acceptable to be humbled to the level of humanity, beyond that, to a servant, beyond that, to be hated, beyond that, to be betrayed, beyond that, to be executed, and beyond that, to endure the fullest extent of death in the harrowing of Hell, for the sake of the cosmos and the Church. While this decision is shocking from our human perspective, it is at home in the nature of the triune God. The nature of The Trinity, is one of giving, not grasping. In the mysterious dance that is the Trinity, each member finds all of its needs met perfectly in the other two—in perfect intimacy, harmony, understanding, unity, love, and generosity. Within the Trinity, God possesses these commodities to such an extent that they cannot be contained. The surplus of love overflows, spilling out of the Trinity into the cosmos, manifested as order, creation, beauty, life, and in its highest form—the humble birth of Jesus of Nazareth, called the Christ. Grasping and giving are two different ways of existing in the world. The first is characterized by closure, scarcity, apathy, greed, and being inwardly-focused; the second, by aperture, plenty, love, generosity, and mission. Through Jesus, God is actively seeking to reconcile the whole world back to God’s self. As the Church, we have been called to be agents of this reconciliation in our communities. As we spend this Advent season preparing for the coming of Jesus, we look also for the coming of his Kingdom around us. As we watch, wait, and prepare, ask the Spirit to convict you of where you are still grasping, and to provoke you into a lifestyle of giving. Prayer: God of love, you are love, and those who abide in love abide in you. Teach us how to love one another as reflections of your light in the world. God of promise, God of love, into our darkness come. Amen.

-Jeremy Hall