He will come like child

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. Isaiah 11:1

I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Luke 2: 10b-12

Boldness and vulnerability

Rowan Williams poem Advent Calendar finishes with this stanza:

He will come, will come,
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.

Redemption comes with a struggle. The journeys of the Advent story’s characters are filled with dangers and threats. Yet at the centre is God, come as a baby.

The Christ child comes, like every other child, to give the world a message wrote Anthony de Mello. What is God’s message in the shape of this baby?

Later in his life Jesus stated that he came not to judge the world but to save it. The one true image of God is Christ crucified write a number of commentators. Maybe such love, boldness, conviction and vulnerability is echoed here in a similarly dramatic and poignant context.

Questions

What am I afraid of?  What qualities of God opens me up to God?