It was all the rage when I was in high school to have one of our sports teams run onto the field for warm ups to “In the air tonight” by Phil Collins, a song that speaks of something special that will occur in the moment. Obviously it was only played for the big games when the air was alive with anticipation, almost electric. Something was going to happen. As we enter into Advent, this is the same sense I get, there is something in the air.

            Things are different, once Black Friday rolls around, once we clear away the last scraps of Thanksgiving. People begin to act differently, more generously. People just seem to be nicer (unless you are fighting for that last parking spot at the store). Overall, Advent and Christmas seem to be a time when we actually act cordially towards other. Perhaps this is just a by-product of a holiday season full of gifts and vacations, or perhaps there is something more going on. Perhaps, just perhaps, we are stumbling upon the original way we are supposed to live with each other.

            During Christmas we celebrate the Incarnation, how God became flesh. Jesus frequently speaks of how he is in the Father and the Father is in him. This is incarnational language and it is not limited to just Jesus and God, but it is available to all. Just as Jesus was in the Father and the Father was in Jesus, so Jesus is in each of us, we then are opened to living like Jesus. Ireneaus, an early church leader and writer, sums it up nicely, “Jesus became human so that we might become divine.” In our faith, we are opened to a tremendous power for God resides in us.

            During Advent and Christmas, it seems that we are more open to this power than other times of the year. We come up with excuses like “Tis the season”, or refer to the “spirit” of the season in a way to cover all the hospitality and niceties that take place. How else can we explain behavior that we would not exhibit during the rest of the year? While those are all convenient excuses, I think that we are actually in touch with the Christ in each of us, believers and non-believers alike. We allow this part of us to take over and release it from the captivity that we place it under the rest of the year. As we witness to the Incarnation of Christ we are actually witnesses to the incarnation in our own lives.

            There is something special in the air when we think about how God dwells in each of us; of how God desires each of us to live with and for eachother. Something truly wonderful happens when we allow that divine presence within each of us to come out and be on display. It is amazing that in a holiday that is becoming increasingly secular, this sacred presence cannot be removed, nor will it ever be, for this is God’s intent for us. The light entered the world and the darkness did not over come it.

            My prayer for all of us this Christmas time is that we live in comfort with this Christ presence in us and nurture it, so that it is evident the whole year wide.