On the Seventeenth Day of Christmas: Making Space for True Love
No, this isn't about Paul, though I plan to write about my engagement to him since it happened (kind of) at Christmas. Last year I was asked to write and read for the Christmas Eve services a piece about making space at Christmas. I was and still am grateful for the opportunity to reflect and work out some of my appreciation for the unspeakable gift of God in Christ. The text below is from last year's piece Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room, and I include it because it's a good memory for me.
A manger seems an odd place to find a baby whose birth signals a cosmic and eternal shift in the space between heaven and earth. But Bethlehem was crowded and the stable doors were open and heaven, always looking to fill humble spaces, favored this one.
Nine months before, heaven sent Gabriel to Mary; his greeting—Hail, favored one; The Lord is with you—disturbed her greatly and she wondered what it could mean. Heaven doesn’t pay casual visits.
We might expect Mary to ask the angel if perhaps Joseph should be consulted: by law she belongs to him, after all, and by nature he’ll be needed. She might ask other questions too--Where? When? Why? But she doesn’t. She asks simply how.
Gabriel does not rebuke her as he did Zechariah when he asked the same question upon hearing that a son was on the way. Zechariah and Elizabeth were not the first couple to conceive a baby in their old age. But never before was there a baby virgin-born. Mary can’t conceive and bear a son by herself. And she won’t; the child is God’s Son, God’s work—With God, Gabriel concludes, nothing is impossible.
Past generations may have been surprised to hear Mary answer for herself—she is betrothed, yes; but Mary is aware of a deeper and more enduring relationship than her marriage contract: I am God’s servant, says Mary; Let it be to me as you have said and Mary makes space to receive God’s favor--
The manger may be an odd place to find the center of the world, but there it is--and within lies earth and heaven's treasure—light of the world; lily of the valley; morning star—a gift to all people of all places in all times come to us through the space made by a poor, young, Jewish girl.
Can we imagine a continued, seismic shifting in the powers of this world if heaven could find wide spaces like that one found 2000 years ago? If there were others who valued heavne’s favor, understanding that nothing is impossible for God. Who prayed, Let it be to me?
May every heart prepare him room.
A manger seems an odd place to find a baby whose birth signals a cosmic and eternal shift in the space between heaven and earth. But Bethlehem was crowded and the stable doors were open and heaven, always looking to fill humble spaces, favored this one.
Nine months before, heaven sent Gabriel to Mary; his greeting—Hail, favored one; The Lord is with you—disturbed her greatly and she wondered what it could mean. Heaven doesn’t pay casual visits.
The details of the message were enough for Mary to
understand that heaven’s favor will not require something, but everything of
her: You will conceive and give birth to a son, says the angel: The Savior, Son
of the Most High, Eternal King.
We might expect Mary to ask the angel if perhaps Joseph should be consulted: by law she belongs to him, after all, and by nature he’ll be needed. She might ask other questions too--Where? When? Why? But she doesn’t. She asks simply how.
Gabriel does not rebuke her as he did Zechariah when he asked the same question upon hearing that a son was on the way. Zechariah and Elizabeth were not the first couple to conceive a baby in their old age. But never before was there a baby virgin-born. Mary can’t conceive and bear a son by herself. And she won’t; the child is God’s Son, God’s work—With God, Gabriel concludes, nothing is impossible.
Past generations may have been surprised to hear Mary answer for herself—she is betrothed, yes; but Mary is aware of a deeper and more enduring relationship than her marriage contract: I am God’s servant, says Mary; Let it be to me as you have said and Mary makes space to receive God’s favor--
• She makes space in her body for God to dress himself in
our flesh clothing and closes the door to the normal, natural, life that may
have been—
• She makes space in her heart to treasure the unexpected and
unusual—a long difficult journey in the 11th hour of her pregnancy; visits from
both the rough and the royal; a troubling prophesy; a sudden, swift exit from
her homeland. All experiences she will receive as gifts to be
pondered—treasured;
• As the first to know the fellowship of her son’s
suffering, Mary makes a wide space in her future, knowing that the shift
signaled by the birth of her baby will unseat rulers and cause the rich and the
poor to exchange places. God’s kingdom is moving, and she, God’s servant, will
be among those who prepare the way.
The manger may be an odd place to find the center of the world, but there it is--and within lies earth and heaven's treasure—light of the world; lily of the valley; morning star—a gift to all people of all places in all times come to us through the space made by a poor, young, Jewish girl.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they have room to be
filled with heaven’s riches.
Can we imagine a continued, seismic shifting in the powers of this world if heaven could find wide spaces like that one found 2000 years ago? If there were others who valued heavne’s favor, understanding that nothing is impossible for God. Who prayed, Let it be to me?
May every heart prepare him room.
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