Love, for radical relating

'The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.
He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and his gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.'
---John Sullivan Dwight, trans.

Well, tonight's the night. The one we've been waiting for, praying for, longing for. The one the angels sang, the one sages searched out of the skies, the one that would turn the world upside down. A King born in a cattle stall? A Liberator for a friend? A Master whose rule is love and peace, in a culture and time when hatred and warfare are the go-to options? A Ruler who who will name slaves brothers, and himself Chain-breaker? A holy deity acquainted with our weakness and need?
Make no mistake about it. The baby born tonight was, and is, a radical, and calls us to a radical, upside-down path. We are not called to that path alone, though. We are called to be in relationship with this radical Christ, and to relate to the world in Christ's way --- the way of love. That call is the song coming from the stable tonight. Will we be still to hear it --- and listen?
Love, for radical relating...