We enter this week before Christmas telling the story, beginning with these simple words: This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.* I am struck by how ordinary (i.e., messy) is the start of the life of a Messiah. Messy in that it is not what we expect, not all that tidy and neat, and even marked by scandal. There are questions without easy answers and things that cannot be explained satisfactorily.
I think about my own life, all of our lives really– so much that cannot be fully understood and figured out, which we can’t control or orchestrate as we think best. And yet time and again, God enters in, in the form of mystery, grace, new awareness and insight, encouragement from an unlikely source, a bewildering gift.
God is always loving, and waiting for me to receive that love. The invitation is coded in the heart longings of each of us. God’s ever-unfolding story of love wants to be told in infinite ways through our everyday lives, relationships, and work.
So much I don’t know and can’t do. So much I long to be but am not. So much in life causes heartache in our being and communities – the suffering is great. And God enters in. Angels of mercy and gladness come, tending amidst our befuddlement and life’s complexities. We dream. New life. Another way is possible.
In this final week of Advent, may we listen anew to the story and see our place in it. We need not be afraid. God-is-with-us.
-Trish Stefanik, Overlook Retreat House at Dayspring
- Where is God present for you right here, right now, no matter how things look or feel?
- When in your life have you been visited by an angel?
- Can you step into life unknowing yet trusting love?
