You might have seen ads on tv for the comfort zone. How about the uncomfort zone? Never heard of the uncomfort zone? Neither have I; just came up with it.The uncomfort zone is where you don’t like to be/go because it is not comfortable there. It is where you feel like the proverbial ‘fish out of water.’ So many lives are so predictable because we do pretty much the same things since those are what we are or become comfortable with. And we don’t need to think a lot because we’re on ‘cruise’ when we engage in them. That’s boring, as my young friends say.One of the most mind-blowing truths of the Christmas/Advent narrative is that God chose to move from the comfort zone to the uncomfort zone. As one profound Christmas carol states: “Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown when Thou camest to earth for me. . . .” How will Christmas be if everyone who believes that the Lord Jesus Christ left His comfort zone and landed in an uncomfort zone (I suspect that’s a good number of people reading this) followed Jesus and did things in the uncomfort zone? Like, skip buying gifts for family and friends who don’t need them but getting useful things (like blankets, socks, warm hats, and gloves) and taking them to neighborhoods and communities where folk haven’t had a new thing in years? Or, making sandwiches and hot soup on Christmas Eve and sharing them with homeless people under freeway bridges? How about another novel idea in the uncomfort zone? On Christmas Day, practice walking in the footsteps of the One who went out of His comfort zone for you: Invite one person (at least), who you have never invited before because they are outside your comfort zone, to your home for a special meal. Make them your honored guest (especially if you have your traditional company; boring), get to know them, and demonstrate to yourself (not to anyone else) that in the footsteps of Jesus who you profess to follow, you are willing to move into the uncomfort zone.I think the Lord Jesus will be immensely pleased. Now that’s celebrating His birth, or, His move from the comfort to the uncomfort zone.
–Jeba Moses