“…the most unsettling question raised by [the Incarnation] is not “What if Christ had not come?” but “What if He has come, and we live as though He has not?” Christmas exposes this paradox with uncomfortable precision. We sing the hymns, quote the promises, and decorate our sanctuaries, yet it is possible to live functionally as if Emmanuel were absent—handling grief without hope, conflict without grace, and injustice without courage. The clergyman’s dream world may feel distant, but its shadows appear whenever believers rely more on sentiment than on the living presence of Christ. The incarnation is not only a doctrine to affirm; it is a reality to inhabit.

God with us means God present in hospital rooms, courtrooms, lonely kitchens, and quiet gravesides. It means Scripture that does not end at Malachi but opens into flesh and blood, cross and resurrection. On second thought, Christmas is not merely proof that God once came, but assurance that He still comes—again and again—into the ordinary, the broken, and the overlooked. Advent trains us to notice Him there. The paradox is this: the more familiar the story becomes, the easier it is to forget how empty the world would be without it. Yet when we pause long enough to imagine that absence, gratitude sharpens, worship deepens, and faith awakens anew. Emmanuel is not simply a name announced long ago. It is a presence we are invited to live within today.”— Intentional Faith, Pastor Hogg.net