Friends,

Another year is drawing to a close.  One of our traditions during this season of Advent is not only to wait in anticipation for what is to come, but also to look back at the year that is passing.  To scan our memories for that which was significant, that which we don’t want to forget.

The most significant event for us in 2021 was the birth of our grandson Nelson Lee Price on February 15, 2021.  Nelson was a Covid surprise but one for which we are all most grateful.

We were able to travel to see Will, Britt and Nelson shortly after his birth.  Holding him as a newborn was a new experience for us as we didn’t meet either of our granddaughters until they were 3 months old.  We could both sit for hours just reveling in this 8 lb 8 oz miracle of creation, holding his tiny hand watching his breath go in and out.

In talking about our experience, we both were struck with one of the greatest paradoxes of our faith, that God, who is all mighty and all powerful would choose the form of a helpless baby when he came to be with us.  The one who could have chosen to come in might and in power choose to come as a helpless infant.  The one who we refer to as “He is in Control” willingly chose a posture of “No Control”.  

Phillip Yancey says it well in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew:

“The Messiah who showed up, wore a different kind of glory, the glory of humility.  “God is great” the cry of the Moslems, is a truth that needed no supernatural being to teach men,” writes Father Neville Figgis.  “That God is little, that is the truth which Jesus taught man.”  The God who roared, who could order armies and empires about like pawns on a chessboard, this God emerged in Palestine as a baby who could not speak or eat solid food or control his bladder, who depended on a teenager for shelter, food and love.”

In this season when so much seems ‘out of our control’, it is a good reminder that while feeling ‘in control’ may feel more comfortable, it is the humble posture of ‘no control’ which best reflects the person of Jesus.  That Jesus would leave his home in heaven and come to be ‘with us’ in every way including through the birth canal of a peasant girl is incomprehensible.  Emmanuel, God with us.  

As we spend the rest of this season pondering this incomprehensible truth our hearts are stirred with gratitude for all of you who have also come to be with us in so many ways in 2021.  We are humbled and blessed by your friendship and generosity.

Seasons Blessings, 

Rich and Jayne Price