The hours are ticking by. Christmas is almost here. I've finished the last of the wrapping, although the decorating that I've planned never got done. And I have LOTS of baking and cooking that needs to happen before the big day. I will say, though, that I'm having a wonderful and blessed Advent. I have walked through the waiting, the preparation, and the receiving. Oh, it won't be perfect, but it will be. That's what's important. And now...these last few days...these are the days when we become--become mystery...become real...become human--these are the days when we become Christmas.
What does that mean--to become Christmas? Doesn't Christmas happen all on its own? But, think about it, God did not come for God's own edification; God did not come to give us some sort of excuse to once again bask in the commercializing of our lives; and God did not come to give us a holiday. No, the point is that God came and in it we become--we become who God calls us to be. We become Christmas--the Christ Mass, the living embodiment of Christ.
Christmas is about openness and receiving; Christmas is about freedom and giving; and Christmas is about love--of Christ, of each other, and of ourselves. Christmas is about finding our way. As a people, we wandered in the desert for years looking for our way; we listened to prophets and kings who told us where to go; and we waited for someone to give us a nudge in the right direction. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. This is the moment for which we have waited. But it is not about the moment. One cannot take the image of the nativity and freeze it in time. Because there is so much more to do--after all, we have to become Christmas!
Grace and Peace,
Shelli
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