The Passage<\/p>\n
\u201cNow the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.\u00a0 When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with a child of the Holy Spirit;\u00a0 and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, \u2018Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll this took place to fulfil what the LORD had spoken by the prophet: \u2018Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel\u2019 (which means God with us).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press]<\/p>\n
\u201cSearch for the LORD and his strength; continually seek his face.\u00a0 Remember the marvels he has done, his wonders and the judgments of his mouth.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Psalm 105.4-5]<\/p>\n
\u00a0 In the Name of Christ + Jesus Our Lord<\/p>\n
Four weeks ago, on the first Sunday of Advent, the Lord\u2019s people were coming off the traditional celebrations of Thanksgiving and the sales of Black Friday.\u00a0 On Advent One it was noted how the world and the Church have such different understandings of the life swirling around them.\u00a0 The world\u2019s life centers around \u201cme, myself and I\u201d; the Church\u2019s life focuses on the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
From the world\u2019s perspective, businesses are hoping (perhaps even praying?) that the marketing strategies begun earlier in the year will have a positive effect on their profit margins.\u00a0 Fueled by purchases from Home Depot or Lowe\u2019s, thousands of yards are crowded with a staggering number of inflatables that reflect the culture\u2019s way of seeing and maintaining their understanding of Christmas.\u00a0 The trees outside and inside our homes have been decorated, their colorful lights piercing the evening darkness.<\/p>\n
The Church\u2019s perspective, however, is considerably different.\u00a0 In these four weeks of Advent, it has been pointing to Christ Mass, the 25th<\/sup> of December, the Day when we are overwhelmed with the Incarnation of the Father\u2019s Son!\u00a0 The Lord\u2019s people, while participating every day in the world\u2019s life, notice its dark side.\u00a0 They recognize its attractiveness, but are also keenly aware of its destructiveness.\u00a0 They are well acquainted with the tensions of \u201cme, myself and I\u201d, but are deeply grateful that the Father, Son and Spirit push their Life into the world so its people can be rescued from always settling in on themselves!\u00a0 There have been steady collisions between the world\u2019s Christmas and the Church\u2019s Christ Mass during these Advent weeks, but now we are being turned into the Son\u2019s Incarnation!<\/p>\n The Son\u2019s Incarnation opens with the recognition that the waiting which began four weeks ago is concluding this week on Thursday.\u00a0 These weeks, hidden from the world, yet intense in the Church, have been anticipating that the LORD God is about to unleash his Life in this world!\u00a0 Such waiting, while reflected in these four weeks, has really been stretching out for thousands of years.\u00a0 What keeps our observance of these weeks sharp and fresh is the realization that this waiting streams out from the Lord\u2019s Scriptures and his Sacraments of Baptism, Forgiveness and Supper.\u00a0 It is in and from these holy places where Lord\u2019s activity makes itself known in the Church during these days!<\/p>\n Today, on Advent\u2019s fourth Sunday, this activity gets very specific.\u00a0 The day\u2019s Gospel unpacks how the Son\u2019s birth occurs and it describes his birth\u2019s purpose \u2013 to save the world\u2019s people from their sins!\u00a0 This activity is highly familiar to many of us, but, because it is from eternity and it works in unexpected ways, it is refreshing and renewing to look again in the Incarnation of the Lord\u2019s Son as we approach this coming Thursday.<\/p>\n There is a man, named Joseph, who has promised to marry a young girl, Mary.\u00a0 Before his promise is completed in their marriage, however, they find out that Mary is<\/p>\n pregnant!\u00a0 Joseph is not the one who has caused this pregnancy and he is distressed to find out that she is going to be a mother.\u00a0 So he decides to quietly break his promise to Mary and back away from the completion of their marriage.<\/p>\n But when the Lord\u2019s angel appears to him in a dream he tells Joseph to not be afraid to keep his promise to Mary.\u00a0 The angel acknowledges Mary\u2019s pregnancy, but, in ways beyond our knowing or understanding, explains that this is happening because of the Holy Spirit\u2019s mysterious actions.\u00a0 Joseph is then told that Mary will give birth to a son and that Joseph is to name him Jesus.<\/p>\n The passage concludes with the angel reminding Joseph that Isaiah had pointed to the day when the LORD God would be among his people.\u00a0 Waking from his dream, Joseph allows his concerns to be overwhelmed by what the Lord is intending to do. \u00a0Joseph continues on with his promise to Mary and when she gives birth to her son, he names him Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus, THE Son of God, is being born to save the world\u2019s people from their sins!<\/p>\n What does all this mean for the Lord\u2019s people?\u00a0 From numerous biblical studies we know that sin is \u201cdesire to be like the LORD God\u201d (a definition which first surfaces in Genesis 3).\u00a0 This instinct is the desire streaming from one\u2019s self; it is the attitude which surfaces when one is born into the world; it is what we often describe as self-absorption or narcissism or self-centering.\u00a0 This desire is a condition and an activity which creates the collisions between the world\u2019s understanding of Christmas and the Church’s Christ Mass.\u00a0 \u00a0This instinct is why we clash with one another, why there are noises and messes inundating us on a daily basis.\u00a0 We need to be rescued from the world\u2019s understanding of Christmas and to be drawn more fully into the Christ Mass which begins to surface this Thursday!\u00a0 Christmas revolves around the world\u2019s life.\u00a0 Christ Mass turns around the Son\u2019s Incarnation, rooted exclusively in the actions of the Father, the Son and the Spirit!<\/p>\n Because we have been born into the world\u2019s life, we convince ourselves that our natural desire for the self is not that serious, that it is merely a bad habit to be changed or a narcissistic condition which is manageable.\u00a0 The reality, however, is the instinctive desire grabs us so powerfully we cannot change or manage it.\u00a0 While presenting us with all sorts of attractive possibilities, the desire moves in on us and holds us permanently in the grip of its destructive and deadly ways.<\/p>\n Through the Incarnation of the Son, though, the Father and the Spirit begin their attack on this desire; an attack that reaches full completion in the Son\u2019s dying, rising and ascending.\u00a0 Ignoring the Incarnation, however, the world leans on its own understandings of Christmas as it attempts to deal with its natural desire.\u00a0 The world is not ignorant, it is well aware of the dark side which attaches to its life; we know the world is highly skilled at noticing such darkness.\u00a0 Daily it reminds of the hurts and wrongs which run between people, of the injuries and illnesses which press in on them.\u00a0 Still, the world stubbornly comes up with its own understandings and labels them Christmas, thinking such knowledge will protect and manage its people from all their trouble.<\/p>\n But such understandings do not get to the center of where the trouble is really located, namely, our instinctive desire to be like the LORD God.\u00a0 The world\u2019s understandings explain why people shut their lights off on the Day of Christ Mass, why the decorations are taken down quickly and why the trees are put in storage or dragged to the street.\u00a0 We have to get going; it is time to move on to other things!<\/p>\n However, it is much healthier to be immersed in the Church\u2019s understanding of Christ Mass, the Day when the LORD God slips his Life into this world.\u00a0 Working from the Lord\u2019s holy places of the Scriptures and Sacraments, the Father and Spirit help us recognize their activity in the Incarnation of the Son; THE holy birth that leads to the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension \u2013 THE holy events which free all people from their desire to be like the LORD God!<\/p>\n This is why the Church exults in its understanding of Christ Mass!\u00a0 The Son\u2019s Incarnation spills out for the Twelve Days following 25 December and lets its celebration extend all the way to the Son\u2019s Epiphany on 06 January!\u00a0 More and more we come to understand that the Son\u2019s Incarnation pushes into the world\u2019s darkness \u2013 that it deals with the hurts and wrongs, the injuries and illnesses of the world\u2019s people.\u00a0 The Son\u2019s Incarnation sweeps into the tensions which exist between \u201cme, myself and I\u201d and the holy activity of the Father, Son and Spirit, pulling us away from the first reality and immersing us more fully in the second reality!<\/p>\n So, on this fourth Sunday in Advent, we are being turned into the Son\u2019s Incarnation!<\/p>\n This Incarnation powerfully reminds us that the Lord is always plunging from his holy places into our chaotic lives.\u00a0 He is steadily crossing the lives of broken and afflicted people with his own, surrounding them with the realities of the Son\u2019s crucifixion and resurrection!\u00a0 This Incarnation encourages the Lord\u2019s people to hold off on their quick removal of the decorations and to leave their lights burning.\u00a0 His people have not only received the Gift which does not tire or wear out; they are freshly aware that this Gift runs on into eternity!<\/p>\n The Son\u2019s Incarnation stirs the Lord\u2019s people to exult as they reflect this Gift in the soaring liturgies of the Church, along with the gatherings of their families and friends!<\/p>\n The waiting that began four weeks ago concludes in just three days and it will be our privilege this coming Thursday to step into the Twelve Days of the Son\u2019s Incarnation!<\/p>\n Now may the peace of the LORD God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus Our Lord<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n