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4th Sunday of Advent
The Lord spoke to Ahaz and told him to ask for a sign. Ahaz huffed and puffed and dithered until the Lord became exasperated with him. Therefore, the Lord God gave him a sign anyway: “the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name Him Emmanuel.” That sign is elaborated in the gospel reading today. I love the way that the workings of God are so unpredictable. Maybe we could say about God that He is fuzzy logic. He draws straight lines crookedly. He sings beautiful songs out of key. He paints blank canvases and they are masterpieces. Why can’t God be like the image we have of Him? Why doesn’t God behave the way a God should? What is wrong with coming to birth in a royal castle with lots of servants and courtiers? If it was good enough for Prince Charming why isn’t it good enough for the Messiah? We keep having to make adjustments about God. He never reveals Himself to us in an expected way. In order to find the Messiah we will have to trek up the mountain looking for a barn or a cave or some such inconvenience. Mom and Dad will be ragged country folks in their working clothes. The smell will be terrible from the animals. It will be cold outside, but…there will be a warm glow from within. The Messiah reveals Himself the way He reveals Himself. It doesn’t matter that it is not grand enough for us. What matters is that He comes. As we listen to the telling of the Christmas story it takes on a magical quality with angels and heavenly choirs filling in the gaps. Nothing like a choir of angels to bring us heavenly peace. The time has come for the great event. We acknowledge we will never be quite ready but that’s OK too. What is important is that we open our doors. We welcome Him in. He becomes a guest in our home and we are glad to have Him.
Tiny Tim Cratchit from a Christmas Carol, “God bless us, everyone.”
Merry Christmas y’all,