Bethlehem Bound Part 1

 

This coming Sunday, November 30^th, we begin the season of Advent.  The four Sundays before Christmas are set aside for us to prepare our hearts, souls, and lives for the birth of Jesus.  For four Sundays, we open to God who sings through the wombs of Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptizer, and then Mary, pregnant with Jesus.  Their lives model for us fierce faithfulness.  Where, when, and how can we be pregnant with the possibility of God in these days?  Remember, life was not all chocolate rivers and pony rides for Elizabeth and Mary.  These two brave and bold women each faced discrimination due to gender, age (Elizabeth being older and Mary being young), marital status, and geographical location ~ neither was famous nor an influencer with thousands following their every post.  God moves in ways that leave us speechless and silent with a mystery beyond our explanation.  God moves in ways that provide endless exploration in our lives.  More than likely, you have been to Bethlehem before.  You have sung Silent Night drenched in candlelight.  You have been in the Christmas Pageant growing up.  The story may not be new to you, but you have never been this age at this point in history with all that is swirling around you and within you.  Today, I invite you to write down your prayers as we prepare for Advent.  Thirty days from today, we will arrive at a stable, step inside, to behold and to be held by a mystery that can change our lives.  How can you prepare a manger-shaped space in our hearts, souls, and lives this year?  What does it mean that God comes in the flesh of a vulnerable baby this year?  Where do you pray, “Come thou long expected Jesus?” this year?

Chew on these questions, savor the taste of these questions, and see what comes up in response to these questions.  And may you sense the presence of the One who is with us and for us, Emmanuel, God in the flesh and form of Jesus, born anew and afresh this year.  Amen.