Advent Reflection Service
Dc. Larry Brockman
Love That’s what Christmas is all about- the boundless love that God has for us.
Last week, my wife and I were privileged to take care of two of our Grandchildren. One evening, my wife was trying to get our 4 year old grandson Jonah down for the evening. After reading him some stories, a few Children’s Bible stories in fact, she asked him if he had Jesus in his heart. He looked up at her, and with a tear in his eye, he said: “Granny, I think I have Jesus in my heart, but I wish you would ask Him to speak a little louder, because I can’t hear him!”!
I wonder how many of us feel the same way. We think we have Jesus in our hearts, but we are not certain. How do we get Him to speak a little louder to us? How do know Jesus is really in our hearts? Well, this is the time of year that the Church sets aside for all of us to work on that- Advent, the season to prepare for the coming of Jesus. Now, we can be sidetracked from this important task. There are Christmas Cards, Christmas Trees, baking to be done, gifts to buy, people to visit and to be hosted, and all kinds of parties and rituals that we will participate in. Most of them are good in and of themselves because they show that we care, and they show that we can give as well as receive. But sometimes they take away from our ability to prepare for the coming of Jesus. And that should be our priority.
Today, we have just heard the story of God’s coming among us. We call that the Incarnation- where God sends Jesus, consubstantial with the Father, into the world to live as a human being. Wow! If you really think about that, that the all-powerful, infinite, ever-present God Sent Himself to live as we do right alongside of us, then it can only bring us immense joy. And Christmas is the expression of that. But it implies so much more than that. The Incarnation is the story of how God loves us, loves us so completely that he would send His Son among us. So how can we get a feel for just how much God loves us? Well consider the readings we just heard.
First, even though God saved His chosen people from Pharaoh and the Egyptians; and brought them to the promised land; and gave them special prophets and kings; the people were still looking for a sign that God was with them. And just like a parent who constantly needs to reassure their children, God loved them enough that he did give them a sign- the promised coming of Immanuel, the Messiah. That is love.
And God went on to promise that the savior would come in the town of Bethlehem, just a small insignificant shepherd town. And so, the Messiah would be born of humble roots. He would not be famous by birth; he would not be well to do. He would not be one of the privileged folk of the time. He would be like one of us, someone we could identify with. That is love.
Not only that, the Messiah would come to save all people, not just the Israeli people. All of us were to share in the inheritance, Gentile and Jew- God loves all His people. That is love.
Then, God chose Mary, a human being like us in absolutely every way to be His mother- the God-bearer. An ordinary person was entrusted with the responsibility to bring Jesus into the world and bring him up to be an adult. God, through His angel Gabriel, accepted Mary’s word that she would do God’s will for her, sacrificing whatever goals she had, just to be Jesus’ mother. And so, the almighty God trusted in our humanity, and that is love.
And then it happened- it really happened. The promise of many generations was fulfilled. Jesus was born of humble parents in a very ordinary way in the town of Bethlehem, just like God promised. That is love.
Finally, knowing that all of us needed to know more about our God, John reveals the Trinity to us in the last reading. The Trinity is a mystery, something we cannot totally grasp. But nevertheless, God has revealed the Trinity to us. He has revealed that Jesus is the son of God, fully human and fully divine. And that Jesus brings the light of God into the world to enlighten us and to show us the way, a way which has been recorded for all time in the Gospels- the Good News of Jesus Christ. God has done that for all of us Christians. The Incarnation is unique among the world’s religions. And the fact is that the Incarnation is so important because it makes God imminent, that is, present to us at a close and personal level. Now it is also true that our God is high above us, or what is called transcendent, so much more intelligent and capable and powerful than anything human beings can conceive. That’s what other religions teach- that God is transcendent. And yet, because of the Incarnation, God is both Transcendent and Imminent to us Christians. And being immanent means that we have can have a personal relationship with Jesus, and that is so important. That is another mystery- but we know that it is true. It is the essence of what we believe on faith. That, too, is surely love.
And so we know that God really loves us. He has stuck with us over thousands of years of doubt. He has sent His only son to live as one of us He trusted in the word of His mother to do His will, And after all that, He promised us who believe eternal life- all of us, each and every one of us. He is a God who is not just high above us and remote, but one who is present to us through His son- always. That is tremendous love, or as Father Ennis would say, awesome love. And so we have reason to celebrate Christmas with great joy. That joy is our way of expressing our appreciation for God’s love.
When we acknowledge just how much God loves us; when the reality of that love becomes so very real and present to us that we want to please God in all things, then, we will know that we have Jesus in our hearts. That is why it is so important to reflect during the season of Advent on Jesus’ coming. Because, first, we need to understand how much God loves us. When we discover the boundless, unconditional, love God has for us through Jesus’ coming, then, we will come to love God. For what child among us doesn’t love a parent or Grandparent for exactly the same reason- that they are loved unconditionally?
This is the time of year that Santa Claus is featured in the stores and decorations and stories of the Season. Santa symbolizes the love of Christ because he gives and gives and gives without limit. True, they are earthly gifts. But they symbolize the gift of the Christ Child, which is the great gift of Love by God to all of us. And so when your child asks you about Santa Claus, you would certainly say something like: “Yes Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus.”
But we have a mission here this year and every year to understand the love of God and to accept Jesus in our hearts. And it is one demonstrated by my grandson Jonah’s concern about hearing Jesus. And so, shouldn’t we say instead: “Yes Jonah, there really is a Jesus.”
