The Mystery

Luke 2:1-7

The Birth of Jesus

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Birth does not happen

just when the time is right

or when everything is ready

when we've done all the right things

or when we wait patiently ...

Even when carefully planned

and engineered

long awaited

or dreaded,

birth comes crashing in

bringing change

and disruption

The arrival of a baby

in the best of circumstances

brings upheaval that cannot be anticipated.

Whether homeless on the streets

Or camped in a refugees enclosure

Crouched in squalor

Or laying in a manger

Birth comes

Heralding joy and sorrow

excitement and danger

Signalling despair and hope

fear and longing.

Into melee and mystery

God is born.

The world is not suddenly transformed.

The experience of birth is no less traumatic

The chaos and squalor do not disappear.

But the air is charged with a new reality

that is seldom grasped:

A message for all:

You are deeply, deeply loved

by a God who is love.

For a season

 

Grief caught me unawares this morning

as it is wont to do

Amidst the hope and the peace 

and the joy and the love

proclaimed by the Advent candles

grief snuck in

unbidden

unwelcome.

I want to push her away

ignore her

push her far down

into the recesses of my soul

where she can languish

until she decides to play nice.

But she keeps on surprising me

with her force and her persistence

with her ability to make me confront 

what ails me

or at least to consider

the reality of pain

being present

when all is good

and right

and life-giving.

To follow a call

does not grant immunity

from the pain of loss

and the vagaries

of transition.

And the comfort God promises

is slow to appear.

But maybe wholeness is found

in acknowledging, not denying

in welcoming, not ignoring

in sitting with grief as a companion

through whom God intends

to reveal purpose.

And perhaps healing will come

when the tasks of mourning are done.

In God's time

the landscape of loss

will be transformed

into newness of life.

The God of every transition

calls us, not to easy paths

but to paths 

that will help us grow.

And that promise

is the hope and the peace

and the love and the joy

of this season.

Thanks be to God.