11-29-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 29, 2024
I hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving. I sure did, but it's Friday, and we have just a couple of days to get ready for the first Sunday of Advent. Depending on the year, we sometimes get a true Thanksgiving Sunday after Thanksgiving, but not this year. Our household has all the fall Thanksgiving decorations outside, but inside, we’ve already started the transformation. The cornucopia has been replaced with some greenery. The pumpkin and gourds have been tossed into the green space to be enjoyed by some of the wild creatures, and in their place is a nativity scene. My spouse is the queen of decorations, but Christmas is probably her finest work. And despite it being a sort of busy time for both of us when it comes to work, we absolutely love this season. Yet we hold pretty strongly to this season of preparation called Advent. We have three different Advent countdown calendars, plus an Advent Wreath with candles (battery-operated). In the 14th chapter of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is talking about discipleship when he offers the short analogy, “If one of you wanted to build a tower, wouldn’t you first sit down and calculate the cost, to determine whether you have enough money to complete it?” We are reconstructing the story of Jesus, both in our homes and in our hearts, but his requires preparation. And it is sort of important to begin at the beginning. Maybe putting together a budget is not necessary (when it comes to the Christmas presents, it might be smart), but to make sure the decorations are more than ornamental fluff, I would think that determining what is foundational would help construct what one claims to be important into that which is visibly and impactfully important. 

Let me begin at the beginning, O Lord of new beginnings. A new life and light are coming into the world, yet I believe your gifts of life and light can best be embraced if I’ve done some necessary work. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with you. Yet the Good News is how your Word took on flesh and chose to live among us, to bring life and light to all. It’s one thing to proclaim these words, but it’s an entirely different matter to become a living embodiment of your life and light for the sake of the world around me. Amen.