January 8, 2012: Baptism of Our Lord

Baptism of Our Lord: January 8, 2012
Mark 1:4-11

Preacher: Pastor Carrie B. Smith

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Happy New Year!

You may have noticed that this week, we’ve entered Soap Opera Time.

Now I’m not talking about time travel, or a new season of the church year—when I say “Soap Opera Time”, I mean that phenomenon which allows us to enter the world of “The Bold and the Beautiful”, where one week, Ridge and Brooke are giving birth to a baby daughter—and just a few days later, Brooke is married to Thorne, Ridge is in jail, and that baby daughter…is 16 years old and dating her sister’s cousin’s brother, who is actually her uncle from her mom’s second marriage.

If you recognize this scenario—then you’re already familiar with Soap Opera Time. The way these daytime stories are told is decidedly disorienting and non-linear—and yet we keep tuning in, week after week, and somehow we follow along.

This is one of those weeks in the lectionary when we also seem to have launched into Soap Opera Time after a relatively normal chronological period. Just a few months ago during Advent, Mary was pregnant, and we joyfully awaited the birth of the long-expected baby. At Christmas, just two weeks ago, we gathered around the manger where the newborn baby was laid. And it was only last Sunday that the baby, 8 days old, was taken by his parents to the synagogue and was given his name: Jesus.

And now, here we are, just one week later, and we see Jesus, a fully grown man, beard and all, hanging out with a questionable character in the woods and being baptized…how did this happen? How did we get here?

Yes, this feels a bit like soap opera time.

And of course, some of you, because of the holiday season and school vacation, have skipped directly from the pregnant Mary or the baby Jesus in the manger to this bearded Jesus in the river Jordan!

But then, the scriptures don’t tell us much about Jesus as a child, either. We can read about the flight into Egypt and how Jesus was found teaching in the synagogue as a young boy—but that’s it. And so it is that the Gospel writers and the lectionary compilers, who drew us in with the more linear, chronological Christmas story, have now just launched us into Soap Opera Time for the season of Epiphany. Today, just fifteen days after Christmas, Jesus is no longer the infant lowly, infant holy. He’s now Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee, who has come to be baptized by John in the Jordan.

But this is exactly where Mark would want us to start the new year. We heard this reading already at the beginning of Advent, and you may remember that the way Mark tells it, the story doesn’t start in the manger in Bethlehem. Mark launches right in with the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, telling how the prophet Isaiah foretold it, how John the Baptizer prepared the way, and most importantly how Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan. We often overlook the Baptism of Jesus (perhaps because we're not sure what it means?), but the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ is so important that it begins one of the four Gospels. Soap Opera Time or not, it’s clear that this is an event worthy of our attention.

Of course, we know baptism is important—that’s why we buy special baptismal gowns, invite relatives to church, and take special care for this day. The congregation knows it’s important, too! We get excited when there's a baptism during worship, and today, we are blessed to celebrate the baptism of Alice Mary Helms, and we will have the opportunity to make promises as a community to pray for her, teach her, and welcome her into the body of Christ.

It’s especially fitting for us to baptize on this festival day, the day we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord, even though our baptisms differ from Jesus’ baptism in a few important ways:

Jesus, of course, didn’t need baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus’ baptism wasn’t part of his reception into a church!

And John, of course, didn’t even want to baptize Jesus. John knew that Jesus was the one greater than him, who would institute a baptism quite different from the one he was proclaiming.

But our baptisms and Jesus’ share one very important feature—in baptism, we hear God’s voice and receive our new identity as children of God.

In Mark, chapter 1, after the heavens are torn apart and the Spirit descends like a dove on Jesus, a voice from heaven says:

“You are my Son, my beloved, with you I am well-pleased.”

And in that one sentence, we learn something very important about Jesus. We learn that he’s not just a baby in a manger. But he’s also not just a man. He is the Beloved Son of God. He is both human and divine. He’s the one we’ve been waiting for, our Savior and Redeemer. And that's why, today, even though it feels a bit like we've entered soap opera time, suddenly moving from the manger to the river Jordan, we need to hear this reading.

For now...we know who he is. Now, as we launch into the season of Epiphany, when we will hear the stories of the many ways God is made manifest in our lives through Jesus Christ—we know who it is who is healing, who is preaching, who is suffering on the cross. It is none other than the Son of God, the beloved, with whom God is well pleased.

And in the same way, we learn who we are when we are brought to the water. Whether it happens at 9 weeks or 90 years old, baptism is the moment when, through water and the Word, we receive our true identity.

Today, Alice Mary and her parents will hear the words: “Alice Mary, child of God, you are sealed the Holy Spirit and marked by the cross of Christ forever.” Alice may not remember this day. But her parents will—

They will remember that it is Alice Mary, child of God, who graduates from kindergarten.
It is Alice Mary, child of God, who will drive them nuts in Middle school.

It is Alice Mary, child of God, who will go to prom, will choose a college, and will argue about coming home for Christmas.

And hopefully Alice Mary, child of God, can cling to that identity when times get rough, when a bully gets in her way, or when someone else tries to tell her who she is.

For no matter what anyone else says, God’s voice from heaven is always the loudest, and God says: “You are All My Children!”

Even if you’ve been the Young and the Restless, you are All My Children.
Even if you’ve had more than One Life to Live…you are All My Children.
Even if you’ve been to the Edge of Night and back…you are All My Children.
Still, our baptismal identity stays the same: Through baptism we are children of God, washed in the water, saved by the blood, and called by name.

Now I invite you to turn to your neighbor in the pew and call them by name..." ________you are a beloved child of God!" (This is a good opportunity to introduce yourself to your neighbor, if you don't know her!)

It’s important to know who we are---and whose we are---because the Days of Our Lives are not always easy. We will have detractors and alligators; powers and principalities at work against us; trying to define us; others always attempting to slap a new name-tag on us.

But sisters and brothers, for the sake of Jesus Christ, and through water and the Word, you have been claimed by God as God’s own. And because you are all children of God, you are empowered to live the baptismal life. You can be who God created you to be, beautifully and wonderfully made. With God’s help, you can live out your baptismal covenant, standing with the poor and the voiceless and working for justice and peace in all the world. You, child of God, can live boldly for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You, brothers and sisters, are the Bold and the Beautiful--you are beloved children of God. Amen.

January 1, 2012: The Festival of the Name of Jesus

Name of Jesus: January 1, 2012
Luke 2:15-21
Preacher: Pastor Carrie B. Smith

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of the Year of Our Lord, 2012. It’s also the 8th day of Christmas—and therefore, in spite of the Valentine’s Day paraphernalia cropping up around us, it is still completely appropriate to greet one another with a hearty “Merry Christmas!”

Chances are that outside of the famous (and somewhat annoying) song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, you haven’t thought too much about the 8th day of Christmas. But it just so happens that this is also a feast day in the church year—a feast we rarely have the opportunity to celebrate on a Sunday—and it has nothing to do with “eight maids a-milking”! Today, at least in the church, is known as the Festival of the Holy Name of Jesus.

It’s true that the name of Jesus was on our lips last week on Christmas Eve, when we joyfully sang “Away in a manger, no crib for a bed. The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head.” But in Jewish tradition, a baby boy would not actually have received his name until the 8th day of life. On Christmas Day and for the next seven days, that tiny baby in the manger was known only as the son of Mary and Joseph—until his ritual circumcision, when his parents would speak his name—Jesus—for the first time.

I admit that after the over-the-top celebrations for Christmas and the New Year, it may seem a bit strange to have an entire day set aside to honor the Name of Jesus. But then, names do matter, don’t they?

When I was pregnant with our younger son, we had chosen the name Micah Carlyle—Micah because of my favorite Bible verse, Micah 6:8, and Carlyle for my brother. But in the middle of the pregnancy, Robert started his seminary internship, and it just so happened that the 14 year old son of Robert’s supervisor was also named “Mikah”. Right away, I should say that Mikah Meyer has grown up to be a delightful young man—but at the time, he was a professional 14 year old pastor’s kid! (Use your imagination here.) One day, I came home from church and said to my husband, “I can’t do it. This baby cannot be a Micah! We need to find a new name.” And so it was that Zion Robert was born.

Names matter.

I wonder if Robert Zimmerman would have been the icon that Bob Dylan is? And could Queen Latifah have made it as a successful rapper and actress if she had remained Dana Marie Owens? Names have power, affecting how others see us and even how we see ourselves. This is why parents agonize over naming their children. Women about to be married—or who are going through a divorce—struggle with which surname to use in the future. And this election season, comedians are having a great time with the fact that Americans who struggled over having a president with a name like “Barack Obama” are now choosing between a “Mitt” and a “Newt”!

Names matter.

It matters that this tiny baby, born in Bethlehem in the middle of an occupation to an unmarried girl and laid in a manger, was named Jesus. It matters because this name didn’t come out of a book of “1,001 Things to Name the Savior” or a list of the “Top Ten Jewish Boy Names of the First Century.” Rather, it was the angel Gabriel, appearing to Mary, who announced that his name would be Jesus. In Luke chapter 1, we read how the angel came and said:

“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

This was more than a suggestion. This was more than a friendly bit of baby-naming advice. In fact, this wasn’t the first time the angel Gabriel had used his baby-naming talents! Just a few verses before this, at the very beginning of the Gospel according to Luke, Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and announced that his wife, Elizabeth, already in her old age, would conceive and bear a son named John. And for his hesitation in believing this astounding news, poor Zechariah was struck mute, unable to speak anyone’s name at all, until the baby John was born.

Names matter—and in particular, names matter to the story of the birth of the Messiah, the Lord. The way Luke tells it, it’s clear that this baby is someone special, for his birth was foretold by the prophets. His name was given by an angel. Even more angels announced his birth. From the first sentence to the last, it is understood that this child, named Jesus before he was even conceived in the womb, is a gift from God, the fulfillment of a promise, and the hope of the whole world. “For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6) Amen!

It matters, in a biblical sense, that this baby was named Jesus, as it was foretold to Mary. But does it matter to us today? If a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet, would a savior named Fred be as beautiful?

Or perhaps it can be said in this way: Does it matter which name we give to Jesus?

Consider what it means to celebrate the Name of Jesus on the first day of a new year. As we contemplate how we want to live our lives in the year ahead, many of us are resolving to eat better, to exercise more, to go back to school, or to fulfill long-abandoned dreams and goals. And while many of these lofty goals are soon forgotten (someone recently described New Year’s resolutions as a “To-Do List for the First Week in January!), the process of making them is in itself important. Making resolutions is about fixing our priorities. It’s about naming for ourselves—and often for friends—what and who is important in our lives.

And so here we are, on the first day of this New Year, the first day of living out these new priorities, and the church tells us that today’s priority is the Name of Jesus. Perhaps this is an opportunity. Perhaps our number one resolution this year could be to decide who Jesus is. What would happen if Christians, on this day, resolved to give Jesus a new name?

I’m not suggesting we should re-name him Fred, or Bob, or Cynthia! But if Jesus has, in the past, been known to us as “that guy we hear about on Sunday mornings”, or “a generally good man, someone I can look up to” or even “a mythical character that I really only think about at Christmastime”, then maybe, in the New Year, it’s time for him to receive a new name. What will we call him in the year to come?

Will we call him the Lord of Life and Healer of our Soul?

Do we know him as a good example to follow and a great role model, or do we call him Redeemer and Savior?

Is Jesus just a name we drop at the end of a prayer, or is his the name at the top of our contact list?

And in the New Year, will Jesus be called the chief cornerstone of the church, or will we reserve that name for old habits, stale structures, and “the way it used to be”?

There is power in the name of Jesus.

For St. Paul tells us in Philippians that “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11)

Again in Romans, we hear that all those “who call upon the name of the Lord” shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)

And of course our brother Martin Luther encouraged Christians to practice "pure faith and confidence, and a cheerful meditation of and calling upon His holy Name". (Treatise on Good Works)

Names matter.

And that’s why, today, on this Festival of the Name of Jesus, your name also matters. Hear the Good News: No matter what priority the name of Jesus has had in your life in the past year, your name is always top priority for God. Whether Jesus has been on the mainline this past year—or if he was dropped from your contact list—he is still Emmanuel, God with Us. This is our Christmas joy and our hope for the New Year—that God so loved the world (including you!) that a baby was born in Bethlehem, and was laid in a manger, and his name was Jesus. He is the Messiah, the Lord. He is the light that shines in the darkness. And no matter what we call him, he is the same Christ—yesterday, today, and forever. On this day, the babe in Bethlehem received his name. And because of that gift, you can be confident in your name, which is Beloved Child of God. Amen.

Christmas Eve Sermon: December 24, 2011

Preacher: Pastor Carrie B. Smith

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

This year, there are no fewer than eight nativity scenes in my home.

There’s the large, delicate, painted set we received as a wedding gift from Robert’s grandmother, which we’re always afraid to touch, and there’s the simple wooden one we bought for our kids several years later. We have a Guatemalan nativity, purchased by my mother from a Ten Thousand Villages shop. There’s a really unusual one Robert brought home from Senegal a few years ago—it actually casts a shadow of the nativity on the wall when you light its three candles. And this year, we were excited to put out the olive wood set purchased on my first trip to the Holy Land in August.

And then, there’s the nativity scene we bought at Walgreens.

That one is made of molded plastic, and with the push of a button, the star on top lights up, and while a variety of Christmas carols play in the background, a deep, Paul Harvey-like voice tells the story: “While shepherds watched their flocks that night, an angel came to say…in the city of David a Savior is born this day.”

This Walgreen’s nativity isn’t particularly meaningful to anyone in the family. And yet, as tacky as it is, it finds its way out of the Christmas decorations box and under our tree every year, without fail. One day, if we aren’t careful, it may also find itself on one of my favorite Christmas websites: The Cavalcade of Bad Nativities.

The Cavalcade of Bad Nativities is just what it sounds like: a collection of the most unfortunate representations of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus ever found. Here you can find the holy family made out of marshmallows or fashioned out of chocolate. You can see the stable and manger backlit with neon lights. Mary and Joseph, Jesus and the shepherds, and even the wise men can be found depicted as geese, chickens, bears or yellow rubber ducks.

Why do we do this? What is our fascination with turning the holy story of the birth of Jesus, the Savior of the world, into a Precious Moment or a lawn ornament?

And why do you suppose we decorate our homes with tiny mangers—whether tacky or tasteful? The manger, after all, was no holy object. It was a feeding trough. And when you think of it that way, it seems even funnier to fashion it out of marshmallows, or chocolate, or Lenox china.

The manger was nothing more than an animal feeding trough and a slop bowl. It was literally the last place one would think to look for a baby, much less a king. But Mary and Joseph had to make do with what they had—and what they had was a warm, dry place to stay, some animals to keep them company, and exactly one place to put a newborn baby. And so it was that a manger became a baby’s bed, and thereby a cradle for the Savior of the world.

Simply because there was no room in the inn, this utterly functional, decidedly common object suddenly became a receptacle that held the divine. And perhaps this explains why we love nativity scenes so much!

There’s something about this detail of the story—the fact that God came near to us in the form of a baby, and that baby slept his first night not in a palace, or even a boarding house, but in an animal’s feed dish—that fascinates us. It draws us in! We love to sing “Away in a Manger” and to decorate our homes with tiny nativity scenes because the manger is central to our understanding of the meaning of Christmas.

At Christmas, we gather around the manger to celebrate how common places are made holy by the appearance of God in Christ Jesus. It happened on that first Christmas night in Bethlehem, and it happens every day where and when we least expect it.

Martin Luther once said “the Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.” Perhaps the Bible is not such an unexpected place to find God! In fact, we’re so accustomed to thinking of the Bible as a “holy book”, that some of us think it’s too holy to pick up and read! But the fact is that the Bible, in itself, is just a book. Whether we read it in print or on our iPhones, Holy Scripture is holy for only one reason: because when we read it, we meet Christ there. The Bible, like the manger, is an object made holy by the presence of Emmanuel, God with us.

“Emmanuel” is one of those words that seems “Christmas-y”, for it is on this night especially that we celebrate “God with us” in the baby Jesus, and in the manger. But it’s also true that each time we gather for communion, we encounter Emmanuel, God with us. Each time we come to the table and receive the bread and wine, we are part of the Christmas miracle, for we meet Jesus there. Here at the table, in these everyday foods, we are fed and forgiven, through the presence of God in Christ Jesus.

But there are other, even less obvious places which are made holy by the presence of God in Jesus Christ.

If the manger was an unlikely place for God to show up in Bethlehem, I would say the layaway counter at Kmart would be on the list of unlikely places to find Jesus today. And yet the story that has captivated my attention all week is the news that anonymous donors have been paying off layaway accounts at Kmart stores.

Kmart is one of the few places that still offer layaway, and it can be a great help to families with small budgets who don’t have the privilege of using credit cards. As I understand it, anonymous donors have been asking especially for accounts that include toys or clothes for children, and are paying off the entire balance.

This is the sort of story news stations love to report at this time of year! But this time, the story goes beyond charity and sentimentality for me. As I see it, the layaway counter is the manger: a common place made holy through an unexpected gift, undeserved grace, and divine love—not
to mention an account that was paid in full! This year, Jesus was also born in Kmart.

On that first Christmas night, God showed up in the commonest of places—a manger—and made it holy through the presence of Jesus, the Savior of the world. And so we gather again on this Christmas night, around the manger wherein Jesus was laid. We light candles. We sing “Silent night, holy night.” And for this one night, even if we haven’t been to church all year, we feel the presence of Emmanuel, God-with-us, deep in our bones. This is the miracle of Christmas. This is what Christmas is all about!

But when we leave this holy place, and when the manger and the shepherds and the wise men are packed away for another year, we can expect that God will continue to show up in unexpected places. For who would have thought to look for a baby in a feeding trough?

A simple manger became a cradle for the Messiah, and in the same way Jesus makes the commonest parts of our lives into holy places. He is with us on the Metra, and in your cubicle. He is at the dentist’s office and at the Jewel-Osco check-out. Jesus is present during that conversation in the car with your teenager. And he is born again today at the Kmart layaway counter.

And so, with the angel and the multitude of the heavenly host, we sing, “Glory to God in the highest heaven!” For unto us is born this day—and every day—a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

Jesus, our Savior is born. God is with us. Merry Christmas!

2nd Sunday of Advent: Instant Christmas?

2nd Sunday of Advent: December 4, 2011

Mark 1:1-8
Preacher: Pastor Carrie B. Smith

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

One day earlier this week, the first week in Advent, I saw a television commercial that caught my attention. As I remember it, it features a family finishing up Thanksgiving dinner. As Grandma and Grandpa are being walked to the door, they comment on the perfection of the turkey and the quality of the stuffing and pie. “Wonderful, as always!” they say, “Happy Thanksgiving!” As the front door shuts behind them, a visibly tired wife turns and leans on the door, no doubt thinking about the work of cleaning up that delicious Thanksgiving feast. But then, she notices that her house has been magically transformed from a Thanksgiving feast into a Christmas paradise! The tree is up and lit, the rooms are decorated, and the husband (in a red and green holiday sweater, of course) sits in front of the roaring fire with two glasses of wine—one for him, one for her. Instant Christmas! And the tagline of the commercial is: “Santa has elves; you have Target.”

On a similar note, just yesterday a Texas friend commented on Facebook that she had received an email coupon from Hallmark, to be used on the “5th and 6th days of Christmas”. According to Hallmark, the 5th and 6th days of Christmas are tomorrow and the day after. Now I know we call this entire time between Halloween and New Year’s the holiday season, but I wasn’t aware that this year we were skipping all the weeks of December! This year, it seems, we’ve already arrived at Christmas—instant Christmas!

Lest you think I am an Advent Grinch, out to steal your Christmas joy, let me assure you: my Christmas tree is up at my house, too. I have lights on my house and holiday CDs playing in my car. What’s more, I’ve already worked my way through a goodly portion of a bottle of my favorite holiday drink (Bailey’s Irish Cream) as well as several packages of Christmas-colored Oreo cookies and an embarrassing number of Starbucks Peppermint Mochas. I love Christmas!

But I also love Advent, and here’s why: Advent prepares me for the joy Christmas brings. The decorating, the planning, the shopping, the baking, the candles on the wreath, the chocolates in the calendar, the singing, the wrapping…and the waiting—are all important parts of being ready. If elves did arrive after our Thanksgiving meal to magically deliver “instant Christmas” to our house, it just wouldn’t be the same! Time for preparation is a gift. Advent is a gift.

What’s more, Advent is a gift we receive nowhere else, except for in church. That’s why, today, things might look a little barren behind the altar. Gone is the vibrant greenery of the Epiphany season. We don’t yet see the baby Jesus or the shepherds or the angel announcing the good news. Red and green light bulbs and placemats and sweaters and Oreos may be populating our homes, but here in Sunday worship, we are welcomed by blue, the color of hope and expectation. The “Instant Christmas” outside is about having it all, and having it now—no waiting period required. Advent, on the other hand, is about expectation and anticipation. And so for these few weeks we sing “Prepare the royal highway, the king of kings is near” rather than “Noel, noel, born is the king of Israel.”

Advent is about expecting Jesus, and that’s why when you leave worship today, you will also see a new image of Mary hanging on Bethany’s art wall. This new painting, part of a series called “The Nativity Project”, is surprising in that it doesn’t show a traditional nativity scene at all. Instead, it portrays Mary cradling a very pregnant belly. It’s not “Away in a manger”, but rather “Come, thou long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free.” It is hope and expectation. It is Advent, not instant Christmas.

It’s also true that “instant Christmas” isn’t to be found in the Gospel according to Mark. Today’s gospel reading starts off this way: “The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” We might expect the next verse to be: “Then the baby Jesus was born in a manger.” But instead, we hear that the beginning of the Good News came long before the stable and the manger. The beginning was even before John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching repentance. The beginning, according to Mark’s Gospel, is just as it was written in the prophet Isaiah, who said: “See, I am sending a messenger ahead of you, to prepare the way. A voice crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight!” In other words, the Good News of Jesus Christ began long ago, when God began preparing the world for the birth of the Messiah.

The incarnation was not instant! God has been preparing the world for Jesus—through the prophets, through the Word, and through the saints of all times and places. Today we especially remember John the baptizer and his important role in preaching repentance. His was the voice crying out in the wilderness that the people could not ignore.

But there were others, too. There was Abraham, and Sarah. There was Noah and Jacob, Rachel and Miriam. God didn’t start working in history on that holy night in Bethlehem. God has been at work throughout history, in all times and places, from creation to Bethlehem to Jerusalem and Golgotha and, ultimately, to the New Jerusalem. Christmas is not the beginning of the story, but it’s also good to remember that it’s not the end of the story, either! Amen!

Just as God has been at work in the world from the beginning of time, and has prepared us for the birth of the Messiah, so also God is always at work in our lives, preparing us for Christ to be born again in our hearts. God prepares us for new things, and this preparation time can be difficult. Darkness before there is light, and there is time in the wilderness before we hear a voice calling us out. When the rest of the world is celebrating Christmas, the Advent journey can be lonely, even when we trust that God is indeed preparing us for a new thing. Advent is a gift—but sometimes it’s a gift we’d rather not receive!

In preparing the world for Jesus, God sent John to preach the need for repentance, and I’m certain that was a gift not all were happy to receive. Indeed, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, it seems a bit of a downer to think of the need to repent, to confess sins, and to straighten out our lives. Where is the Christmas joy in that? Where is the magic and the glitter in that message?

And yet repentance and confession are important parts of being prepared to receive Christ. I wonder if you’ve ever noticed that one of our favorite Christmas hymns, “Joy to the World”, actually resides in the Advent section of our hymnal. I suspect it finds its home there largely because of this phrase: “Let every heart prepare him room…”. And indeed, this is a wonderful Advent message, because this could be the call of John the baptizer! Let every heart prepare him room—let every sinner turn back to God—let every person be honest about her shortcomings—let all who are filled with hate make room for love—let all who are empty be filled with God’s grace and forgiveness.

God prepares us for Jesus, making room in our hearts for the Good News, and for the new possibilities that Good News brings. This Advent, consider the ways in which God is at work in your life. How is God preparing you for new things? Where are there paths in your life that need to be straightened out for Jesus to arrive? How can you make room for Christ in your heart or in your home? Above all, what gifts can this Advent season bring, that will prepare you to more fully experience the joy of Christmas?

Let us pray:
We praise and thank you, Creator God, for you have not left us alone. Each year you come to us, Emmanuel, God with us in a manger. Each time you come to us in the broken bread and the cup we share. In time or out of time, you will be revealed, and we shall see you face to face. Prepare our hearts to receive you. Amen.