Emmanuel

I believe in the Nazarene. 

The Christ with eyes wide open. 

I believe in Christ who died gasping for air, crying out: “Father! Why have you abandoned me?”.

I believe in him who died with his arms extended--

To embrace us.

I believe in the One with wounds and scars.

The one who rose and chose to show us how to live with our scars as signs of victory and not defeat. 

I believe in the Christ who bleeds. The Christ who falls. 

The One who knows panic, anxiety and fear, yet says “If it be your will…” 

The Christ who weeps.

He knows that there is hope, yet still He weeps. 

I believe in the Christ who knows hunger and thirst. 

I believe in the One who uses our mess as a means of healing us. He is the One using the spit and mud of humanity to lift up our blindness and give us clarity.

He groans in our flesh. 

He groans because He understands. 

He is not afraid, nor disgusted by us. 

He became us. He worked and he labored with His hands and sweat of His brow. 

He comes into our mess.

“You will find Him lying in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes”

I believe in the One,

Who was in the Beginning, 

And in the Here and in the Now.

The Word became Flesh 

And Dwelt among Us

Emmanuel.