"For the grace of God has appeared," writes the apostle Paul in the third chapter of his letter to Titus, "bringing salvation to all people" (Titus 2:11).  As we remember the second Sunday of Advent, we come to understand more fully that in Jesus, God in the flesh, we see, in flesh and blood, concrete and visible expression of God's grace, physical manifestation and display of his truest posture toward us.  Jesus' appearance tells us that, above all, God loves us.  And he provides us with a way to know and love him, fully and intimately.  Jesus is the grace of God.
     We grant each other grace every day, as we should.  Yet it is God's grace that enables us to see and do much more, to see and understand that amidst the frequent senseless and confusing vagaries of the world in which we live, there is hope, a hope that reality is more than what we see, but which frames and orders what we do.  Jesus' appearance tells us that whatever else we may think about God, what we ought to think most about him is this:  God is loving, God is gracious, and God is for us, for us today, for us tomorrow, for us forever.
     What else, in this Advent season, do we really need to know?