Who is God? Immanuel - God (despite mullets and mayhem) With Us

“Aunt Bertha” was with needle and thread like Julia Child with spoon and spatula. During my elementary school days, Mom bragged to others about how Bertha didn’t use patterns. She simply saw a girl’s dress in a store window, then went home and cut fabric to my size perfectly without any worldly guides. A few months later, a package with my name written in big letters arrived at our door. As soon as I turned five years old, I could without fail count on a “Bertha Box.” And they continued to come until I turned ten or eleven. I loved and respected Bertha, but I really (really) disliked those dresses. They never failed to highlight either a big bowtie, puffy sleeves, or Puritan-style extra-large collars. Sometimes I’d escape that trifecta only to lay my eyes on a velvet or plaid vest. Bertha wasn’t exactly my aunt. She was mom’s ex-mother-in-law. Still, Bertha loved my mom, and even though her son and Mom went their separate ways, she remained family. After mom re-married and had me, Bertha set out to faithfully stitch handmade dresses like clockwork, shipping them cross country promptly before Easter and Christmas.

The "Cute" Christmas Dress

In mid-December (late 80s), the green-vested “Christmas dress” arrived. As I opened the box, Mom exclaimed, “Oh WOW!” My eyes widened in dread…Oh no. Pre-teen and self-conscious, I disliked how I looked, yet I remained beholden to Mom’s fashion sense in hairstyle and clothing. Sunday rolled around, and I and my velvet vest dress (with perm-mullet hair sprayed into place) dutifully headed to church. Mom insisted I looked cute. My crooked glasses only further cemented into my mind that I held the title of biggest dork in the sanctuary.

The well-established First Baptist Church we attended ushered in the Yuletide season with unwavering tradition. Hymnals stationed on each pew were well worn, and at Christmastime, pages containing Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angles Sing, and Away in a Manger saw much activity. My dad, with a background in music and choral directing, relished the familiar tunes and sang them with gusto. When the archaic melody of “O come, O come, Immanuel” sprang forth out of the organ pipes, his perfect-pitch baritone voice boomed, “O come, O come, Immanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.”

I didn’t understand what “mourns in lonely exile here” meant, but I knew from Sunday school that Immanuel (or sometimes, Emmanuel) was a fancy Hebrew word that translated to “God with us.” God literally came to earth as flesh and blood (Jesus), and God is here now by His Holy Spirit. Still, what does Immanuel truly mean? We’ve all had friends or family members say, “I’m with you!” but then when life gets tough, the only thing “with us” is the sound of crickets.

Tree or Tree?

We had a “Christmas tree” when I was a kid. Each year when we pulled the musty, plastic heap from the storage shed, I became an expert at finding all the mud dauber nests caked on the metal branches. A nearby stick or rock became the perfect tool to promptly rid it of the long-vacated muddy cylinder dwellings. After its decoration, “gaudy” would have been a kind word for the lit-up tree. Mom had no interest in pretty ornaments. None. Every downright ugly bauble we received from “crafty” elderly ladies at church to juice-stained paper and crayon creations I had made since preschool hung between cheap (and shedding) silver foil garland. It’s funny, “Christmas tree” adequately defined our December living room celebratory monument, yet the same phrase, “Christmas tree” describes another festive feature erected each year in a city named New York in an area called Times Square. SO, is God “with us” (my living room Christmas Tree) or WITH US (Times Square Christmas Tree)?

Adam and Eve vs. Bob and Sally

I always wondered why God didn’t start over when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. Since they blew it, why not just declare them barren and banish them to the Bahamas? Then God could have created a new man and woman who would populate the earth but not let the devil have dominion. Why not? My only guess is what God crafted in Adam and Eve’s DNA was unique, and He knew if He “started over,” people like Noah, Moses, David…you…me…none of us would have been. Nonetheless, what a mess of a world we live in! Albert Einstein is thought to have said, “Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe.”* I don’t doubt God could have booted Adam and Eve and tried again with a Bob and Sally. But, as I’ve learned by studying the Bible and focusing on who God is, He is a “for better or worse” loving Father.

Since God chose to keep going with Adam and Eve, the rebellion against Him continued. Adam and Eve’s offspring eventually led to a world nearly 100% populated with wicked people. Regardless, God is never without. One man stood alone in righteousness – Noah. And again, when God could have said “forget it,” He stayed with humanity and preserved the last godly man on earth and his family – you must have Noah to get to Esther, Elijah, Isaiah, Elizabeth, Mary…Matthew, Luke, Paul…you. In the book of Zechariah, the prophet is declaring God’s word to the Israelites in captivity. Because of unending, defiant sin, the people are yet again in bondage. Darius, the King of Persia, has taken over, and they’ve lost almost everything God promised them. Interestingly, the name Zechariah means “God remembers.” Even with Israel’s sin and service to false, foreign gods, God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ stood firm. The Lord declared:

…I'm going to come and live among you, declares the Lord. On that day many nations will join the Lord and become My people. I will live among you…The Lord will claim Judah as His own in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. Everyone be silent in the presence of the Lord. He is waking up and setting out from His holy dwelling place. Zechariah 2:10-13 (GW)

Pompous Grandeur and Pouch Pickles

It’s another “Christmas tree” moment: Queen Elizabeth “lived among” the people of London. Until college, I “lived among” the people of a small Missouri town, where great excitement amounted to riding my 3-speed bike to the nearest convenience store for a pickle in a pouch. At Christmas, we are reminded God chose to dwell with commoners instead of kings and queens. Jesus had no divine immunity to the putrid smells of animals and humans. Nowhere in scripture says His nose didn’t work. The filth, squalor, stress, and agony that awaited an infant Jesus cradled in Mary’s arms was unfathomable. However, Jesus willingly walked into utter mayhem to save us.

Immanuel Then, Immanuel Now

Hebrews 13:8 affirms, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (NKJV) The same Christ that didn’t cave in and call for angels to save Him while being nailed to a cross is still with us now:

…He is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through Him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. He is the kind of high priest we need because He is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven. Hebrews 7:25-26 (NLT) I can only testify to my own experiences. Life now is much more complicated than my childhood stresses of bad haircuts and awkward attire. Despite this, I’ve seen God’s incredible intervention over and over again as I strive to honor, trust, and obey Him.

Don’t doubt - He’s still here.

Immanuel at Creation

Immanuel at the birth of Jesus

Immanuel at the gift of the Holy Spirit

Immanuel 2022 and beyond

The Lord will never desert His people or abandon those who belong to Him.

Psalm 94:14 (NOG)

* Einstein is attributed to this quote, but it probably came from a book written by Frederick S. Perls

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