This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about…” (Matthew 1:18).

Hope you had a fine Thanksgiving, and took the opportunity to practice some “we are family” ideas from our November sermon theme with your relatives and friends over the holiday.  Let’s keep at it!

Today’s CD is a quick advance notice of the important pivot we’re about to make into our new series, Home for Christmas.  

We find ourselves in a world in which the generic “the holidays” seems to begin with Halloween and end on New Year’s Day!  First the spooky-scary yard displays go up, followed by turkeys/autumn/harvest, then to Santa, reindeer, presents, trees, lights, stars, and the occasional shepherds and crèche, finally collapsing into an elderly and exhausted Year 2021 giving way to a young, energetic, and diaper-clad Year 2022.

But: “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about…”  In the midst of all the noise and buzz of the Roman Empire at the peak of its powers, God was moving.  Differently … unexpectedly … largely unnoticed.

Our God is an interrupting God.  But these interruptions are often hard to notice, especially for people whose attention is constantly being directed elsewhere (“Black Friday bargains begin NOW!”  “Supply chain issues threaten the holidays!”).

It is wise for us to disentangle ourselves from the noise and flurry of “the holidays” and set off in a different direction.  But to notice, to be on the alert for God’s interruptions requires that we slow down, change where our attention is focused, steer by a different compass, and allow our souls to “come home” to the Presence of God.

In some Christian circles, the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day are called Advent (“coming”).  We deliberately shift our focus from the hustle and bustle of whatever is going on around us to remember with gratitude Christ’s First Coming and all that it means for us and for the world, and to anticipate and prepare for his Second.  In these Christian traditions, the primary Biblical figure for these weeks-before-Christmas is not a shepherd, a wise man, Joseph, Mary, or even Jesus; it’s John the Baptist.

John certainly was one of God’s interrupters!  “Repent!” he tells us; “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”  But for those who had ears to hear and eyes to see, John prepared them to be ready to receive God’s salvation in Jesus the Messiah, the manner of whose entrance interrupted all the ways of the world.

The Good News is not the story of how we found our way home to God, but of how God interrupted the Roman Empire to make his home among us.  In order that God might make himself at home in us.  That we might find ourselves at home in God.

So Yes to decorating and baking and gift-wrapping and parties and all the rest!  But also: allow yourself the time and space to be interrupted afresh by how silently, how silently, our interrupting God went about the redemption of the world.

Interested in some Advent devotionals?  Biola University’s Center for Christianity and the Arts offers a wonderful free set of online devotionals for this season.  Each day, you receive in your inbox a Scripture passage, a work of art, a musical piece, a poem and a reflection on all of it from a Biola faculty member.  To sign up, go to: https://ccca.biola.edu/advent/ -- look for the red button below the calendar that says “Send me daily Advent devotionals.”

To read or re-read the overview/summary of this week’s passage, you can click here.