The Church has a life changing message - a message carried to the whole world by those who have received it - God is with us. It is a description of an act of God, not a concept or metaphor; God is present in the action. That act of God has a name and is a person - Jesus. Jesus is the act of God, present to the whole world; I am with you is what his presence means. This is the implication of the resurrection story - God with us cannot be terminated or cancelled by fear and violence; it only springs up over and over again in the most surprising of ordinary places, and keeps repeating "I am with you". Thanks be to God. GS