LAAT’s vision is all about seeing people for who they really are. We use the Zulu greeting Sawubona (I see you) and the text from the bible “You are the God who sees me” We talk about seeing someone so that we can understand them, so that we can meet their needs.
I’ve been thinking about the nativity – the Christmas story – of Mary, Joseph, wise men and kings and of a baby born in a stable.
Who did people see when they looked down on that baby, lying in a manger?
Mary and Joseph – did they see further than the tiny child that they had just brought into the world? When the shepherds came and told them what the angel had said: “Do not be afraid; I have good news for you: there is a great joy coming to the whole people. Today in the city of David a deliverer has been born to you – the Messiah, the Lord. And this is your sign: you will find a baby lying wrapped in his swaddling clothes in a manger.” Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered over them.” I wonder if this changed how she saw her baby? Or did she already know what the shepherds told her?
Joy, hope, love, son of God, saviour – who in the Christmas story saw those things in the baby Jesus lying before them?
Shepherds were told he was Joy – Messiah
Kings brought rich gifts to the child “who is born to be King of the Jews” I wonder if it was hard for them to still see his royal ness when they found him in the middle of poverty – how wise they were to still pay him homage and give him gifts – they must have still been able to see who he really was.
In the Bible he is named so many times and in so many ways:
Immanuel
Saviour
Lord
Son of Man
Son of God
King of Kings
Prince of Peace
Rabbi
Lamb of God
Good Shepherd
Light of the World
Alpha and Omega
The Word
The resurrection and the life
That’s a lot of names!
And yet as we grow we all amass more and more names to ourselves – each one describing a bit more of who we really are.
I’m Jackie. But I’m also Mrs Waters-Dewhurst, mum to my children, Mutti to my grandchildren. I’m Jacqueline to business colleagues and still Jacks to my old primary school teacher. The list of Jesus’s names includes titles as well. So, I’m also CEO and teacher and director and governor and sister and partner and daughter and aunt. As of the 14th of December – fingers crossed- I’ll also be marathon runner! I’m British and English and European. I’m woman and human and friend.
So many names and titles all giving little bits of information about who I am – if you know my names you can begin to see who I am, to understand me.
If we look at all of Jesus’ names, we can begin to see who he is too. Not just a baby in a stable – but a source of Hope, of love, someone to learn from, to teach us a better way of doing things a better way of being. A king who believed in peace, who washed the feet of others because he did not believe in power but in service.
This Christmas I wonder if you can take a minute to look at people who you don’t normally have anything to do with – to see if you can see them, really see who they are and seek to understand them. Your neighbour, a stranger, a refugee, an asylum seeker, a foreigner – can we see them in a different way and acknowledge that their names will also be mother, brother, father, sister, worker, friends fellow human- and so very like us?
Last year I talked of how Mary, Joseph and Jesus were Middle Eastern Refugees. Every year we welcome them into our homes and lives because of who else they were. I wonder if we could do that for others too?
Here at LAAT – myself, my fellow directors and the central team all wish you the very best of Christmases filled with the true gifts of the season: love, peace, joy and compassion, may we all benefit by being seen and understood by those around us.
God bless
