Who are we expecting?

Who are we expecting?

 

It’s so exciting when a baby is about to be born! Even if you’re not related to the mother, there’s something about the thought that a fresh, new life is coming into the world...all full of hope and wonder. A life with endless possibilities and no mistakes in it.

That’s what Advent is about... the expectations of pregnancy, a birth...new life coming into the world. But it’s a little too easy to get caught up in the image of a cute, tiny, cuddly baby, and lose the real message of the season.

  

The creator of the universe, the all mighty God, just couldn’t stand being away from his beloved creation any longer...and so, he relinquished all the trappings of divinity and came to us...as one of us. He chose to become a defenseless, helpless, mewling infant...suddenly going from omnipotence to a fragile creation relying on the care of two humans who might not be so excited at the prospect of this particular brand of parenthood. But there is more to the story...peel back another layer. The conditions of this birth were far from regal. Knowing the end of the story, as we think we do, it’s easy to call him a king, even lying on straw in the feeding trough of animals, in a borrowed barn, far off, even, from what would become his earthly home. But the realities of that night of incarnation were much more stark and humble than even our imaginations can wrap around when we lay our beautifully carved infant in the crèche.

 For his mother, Mary, a young, un-wed girl...the prospect of this birth shattered her dreams. She was betrothed, she had been chosen to become someone’s wife, which in her world was salvation from only horrible alternatives! And perhaps she had even come to love her intended. Now in her condition, any decent man would put her away. The best she could hope for would be that he did it quietly, and that perhaps she could be sent to distant relatives, or else she faced a life of scandal, utter poverty, and ostracism. And Joseph, the poor bewildered groom –to-be, blinded by what must have seemed betrayal. His world had been turned upside down, and now, he had to play the villain to a girl that I contend he HAD to have loved; otherwise, his obedience to the angel’s direction makes little sense. So we have two broken-hearted souls, obviously dedicated to their faith, who only wanted to do God’s will...now living into a reality so absurd that nobody would believe their truth. And no matter how strong their faith, it had to be difficult to understand why God wanted this of them. Their own plans had been sensible...this...was insanity!

 Into this fractured fairy-tale, comes the king of all glory...as unwanted as any child could be, in earthly terms...yet the long-awaited savior of his people, and the world. Wait for it...this one act, seeming small in the billions of babies to be born into human history...is going to change everything! Yet it all happened quietly, without much notice save the immediate family, the put-upon innkeeper, and a smattering of shepherds. Much as he had created the universe with a Word...he re-made the whole messed-up thing with a pinpoint of an event. And it continues that way to this day, he remakes the world, our world...usually with a simple moment...that changes everything!

  

Jesus IS coming to us again this year, as he does every year we celebrate his incarnation. But it isn’t the tiny, helpless, royal bundle, lovingly wrapped by his earthly mother, Mary...protected by his still bewildered foster father, Joseph...heralded by angelic choirs and worshipped by simple shepherds, hoping for a champion to lift them from their poverty and the oppression of despots like Herod and dominating Roman troops. Again...as in the Nativity story, God IS coming among us...quietly...and in disguise!

Christ comes into our world, often in the midst of turmoil, broken dreams, unexpected chaos...but in the most unassuming, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it ways. He presents himself to us in the lonely, the un-wanted, in those whose mental or physical challenges make us uncomfortable...in people whose choices have brought them to places of addiction and despair...in people time and life seem to have forgotten. He is present in the un-seen and invisible people in our lives, in the newcomer and the outsider. The ruler of the universe is made known to us in moments we barely notice, rarely recognize.

  

And most of the time, we are not asked to be so courageous as Mary and Joseph. It usually doesn’t shatter our world, or smash our dreams...or even inconvenience us more than a moment or two.  Saying ‘yes’ to His incarnation and to the simple encounter that may bring life-changing Grace to the ‘other’ he inhabits usually begins with something as tasking as a smile, an extended hand to a stranger, a word of encouragement, a extra moment taken, or a generous, welcoming spirit.

 It may not be entirely a coincidence that our parish hung a bright blue banner on the side of the church, shortly before Advent this year. A banner that proclaims “We’re expecting you!” It is meant as a welcome to potential visitors, and I’m almost sure the timing wasn’t intended in this way at all...but as my thoughts turned towards the expectation of the season...it had a double meaning.  “Come thou long-expected, Jesus!” in whatever form you choose this time. We welcome, we prepare for, we expect his incarnation...again! O come, o come, Emmanuel!