The Bible's Major Themes - Emmanuel Day 3

This fall, Bethany's Confirmation class has been exploring the major themes of the Bible and reflecting on stories that reveal the larger story God is telling through scripture. These devotionals follow that same path, inviting you to pause, reflect, and discover how each theme connects to your own journey of faith.

Bethlehem | Emmanuel | Friday
God is with us.  God became human in the person of Jesus so that we would always know that God is intimately a part of the world we inhabit.  Even when we are suffering, or when we forget about God, or when we feel like we are in exile… God is with us. 
 
Otis Moss III reminds us that Jesus is real, and so that means God is with us in real, meaningful ways.

Jesus knows all about my troubles. Jesus walks and talks with me.
Jesus picks me up and turns me around and plants my feet on solid ground!  Jesus is a mind regulator, a heart fixer, a friend at midnight, a balm in Gilead, trouble over deep water, and bread in a starving land.   Jesus understands my predicament.
Why does he understand my predicament?
Jesus lived a life as a colonized person and as a minority in a community that was under siege by an occupying army.
Jesus understands poverty created by an empire, Jesus knows about racial profiling, Jesus understands mass incarceration, Jesus is frustrated with the traditional church, Jesus experiences state sponsored torture, knows what it’s like to have a public defender who lacks competency, was executed for a crime he did not commit and understands character assassination in the media before and after one’s death.
Jesus even knows what it is like to be stopped and frisked.
Jesus is acquainted with patriarchy, since not a single brother would listen to any of the sisters when they announced, “Guess what y’all, the tomb is empty!”
Jesus knows all about our troubles . . .
Jesus wrestles with tragedy but does not fall into despair.  
- Otis Moss III
 
God entered our human existence as the person Jesus, and Jesus experienced the difficulties of life on earth.  Therefore, we know that God understands our struggles and that God is truly with us in each moment— each breath.  

Choose a short prayer such as “God is here; with me now” and break it into two parts.  Breath in deeply and say the first half of the prayer quietly.  As you exhale, quietly say the second half of the prayer.   Repeat this process at least 10 times, trying to deepen and slow your breath with each cycle.