While the world is losing itself to the mad chaos of Christmas frenzy, the church (or at least the liturgical church) is in the midst of the ancient practice of Advent – a season of preparation for Christ’s arrival.

Except as the season begins, we do not look to Bethlehem and the little baby. We turn our heads towards a completely different appearance: when Christ shall return.

Which has me thinking and reflecting about what that might look like.

Our church Christmas carols, most of which are less than a few centuries old, speak of an idealized baby and picturesque scene surrounding what was in fact a very messy and quite shocking in-breaking of our God-made-flesh. Even better, that child went on to live a life that led to his own execution for how radically he challenged those in power and for welcoming all the wrong people to the table.

Not the tender and mild we were usually taught about…

Which means that if Christ were to return today, God made-flesh would likely not fit the picture many would expect.

So, consider this, if you will: take the person or people you find the most problematic to the the world today. Perhaps it is the teenagers who refuse to fit into the boxes of the generations who have gone before. Or maybe the modern day hipsters who want to support every cause under the sun and seek to make the world a better place wherever and whenever they can, however unrealistic it may seem. Could be the old people in those neighborhoods who adamantly refuse to be silenced when their part of town, which is full of good kids, no matter how poor they may be, becomes endangered and they fight with everything they have left to protect their neighbors, as they have been doing for decades. Can’t rule out those stinky and smelly street urchins who are seen as beyond society’s redemption and attention. Or what about those foreigners of other religions. Or refugees needing a safe place to outrun the long reach of catty tyrants. But least of all can we rule out the precocious or perhaps even special needs child, likely a girl this time, who drives all the “traditional” adults nuts because they are far from meek and definitely not mild.

Anyone who is outside the box of what you or I think is “appropriate” for God’s incarnation, especially when that person comes from a group that has been disproportionately disenfranchised by the world and even more so the religious establishment – that is precisely the place we should start looking for Christ’s face.

All those places we find most repugnant. Most aversive. Most abhorrent. Those were always the places were Christ chose to place himself between the wronged and those causing the problem (and the wronged were not the ones who felt entitled to be so).

Easiest way to live into the Gospel well for this Advent: treat every person you meet as though they might be Christ already returned. Offer them any help they need. Ensure they have full access to the welcome and fellowship of God’s people.

Anything less and we may find one day that we have failed miserably.