Love Part One

 

Yesterday in church we lit the candle of “Love”.  Now all four candles of Advent (hope, peace, joy, and love) are burning brightly.  Now all four candles are pointing the way to where God’s pure light pours forth from a stable on Christmas Eve.  Now the candles help us name and notice what we are searching for in our lives.

 

I long for hope to hold me.

I long for peace to take up permanent residence in my soul.

I long for joy to be shared in serendipitous ways.

I long for love that reminds me who and whose I am.

 

God’s grand entry into our world was in a barn.  Imagine that.  Not a palace or some posh hotel, but a drafty, dirty, dusty stable with animals hovering and hanging around.  The only place for God was a manger – a feeding trough for those animals.  God called Mary to be brave and bold, even though her marriage covenant was not fulfilled.  God called Joseph to go against the grain of societal norms that said he could walk away from Mary; instead, he stood by her.  God decided that shepherds were the public relations firm that could be share the good news of great joy.  Shepherds who were on the lowest of the low rung of the economic and social ladder.  God comes not with might or majesty or military, but as a vulnerable baby.

 

If you are not scratching and shaking your head, please re-read the above paragraph.  If what you just read doesn’t cause your brain to feel flummoxed and full of questions, do not pass go or collect $200.  Re-read.  Sit with the mystery and marvel of the Christmas narrative we will enter on Friday night. 

 

The greatest mystery is that God is not distant or disinterested or disconnected from human life; God enters human life.  This was not how many religions operated in Jesus’ day…and perhaps still seems different from how the church works.  God enters human life with all its brokenness and beauty.  Emmanuel means, “God with us.”  The “us” here is all creation ~ from the tiniest creepy, crawling ant to the largest sea creature.  From the soil beneath us and the stars above us.  On Friday, we celebrate God in the flesh.  This claim was, perhaps still is, controversial.  What we are preparing to celebrate changes the world, and changes our world, our story, our whole lives, and how we go about living today.

 

Sit with me in the holy mystery of what we await to welcome at the end of this week.  Let the story of God entering this world interrupt and infuse your life this day and this week. 

 

How might God hovering in your life awaken hope?

How might God’s presence make space for peace?

How might God’s joy feed and fuel your life?

How might God’s unconditional and unceasing love show up when you open up?

 

May your prayerful pondering on this day clear out clutter for the Christ-child to enter anew and afresh this week.  Amen.