Maranatha!

I was the little girl Steve spoke about in his sermon the week before last. I am the one who always reads the end of books; and my favorite ending of all is Revelation 22.

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

The first and only time I ever heard Paul Manz' "E'en So Lord Jesus Quickly Come" was nearly forty years ago, sung by the Notre Dame Choir at mass one Sunday. I have never forgotten this music, a sublime union of word and melody. Tonight I was thrilled to discover it sung perfectly, by '09-'10 Augustana Choir, conducted by Dr. Jon Hurty. The choir performed at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, IA. According to this source,  "The text was written when Paul Manz's child was near death, during a night of worry and prayer. It is one of the few Christian hymns and anthems that manages to capture the powerful combination of lament and trust at the same time."

Paul Manz was 90 when he died, on October 28, 2009. The Free Republic reports that he was surrounded by family and that they sang "E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come" as he departed. I can think of no better way to be ushered from this life into Christ's presence, and  I hope this piece will be able to be sung or played for my funeral service.

Peace be to you and grace from Him
Who freed us from our sins;
Who loved us all and shed his blood
That we might saved be.


Sing Holy, Holy to our Lord,
THe Lord Almighty God,
Who was and is and is to come;
Sing Holy, Holy Lord!


Rejoice in Heaven, all ye that dwell therein,
Rejoice on earth ye saints below,
For Christ is coming, is coming soon,
For Christ is coming soon!


E'en so Lord, Jesus quickly come,
And night shall be no more;
They need no light, nor lamp nor sun
For Christ will be their All!

The Adventures of Mary and Joseph: The Road Movie

Here's a brilliant retelling of the birth of Christ, from the folks at Paperless Christmas. To watch the nine episodes, press the 'play' button on each billboard. There is also video advent calendar available, if you choose to take the "alternate route." Well worth the time. Humorous, truthful, and quirky!

I refused to celebrate it, muchless call it "Black Friday"

Brad Boydston hit it with his Tuesday, Nov. 24 post:

WHEN DID "Black Friday" become a public holiday? I mean, the shopping day after Thanksgiving has been a big deal in the States for years and retailers called it "Black Friday" amongst themselves because supposedly that's the day that moved them out of red ink and into the black. But now they have "Black Friday" ads on television and they talk about it as though it were a holiday in and of itself. And they've even suckered the news media into the whole charade with special reports on the holiday preparations. Marketing hype. Absurd.

When we name things, we give them status and respect. We acknowledge not only their existence, but their meaning for us. It is even more telling when we create our own holidays. Instead of receiving the gift of a Holy Day, which presupposes a Giver, we take matters into our own hands--time and space--and hallow them to idols of our making.

"Black Friday."

The world, in its arrogance, can only ape what God has already brought into being, but in doing so, it twists His good gifts. Black Friday is the world 's answer to Good Friday:

Instead of sacrifice, there is greed.
Instead of isolation, there are crowds.
Instead of vinegar, there are lattes.
Instead of whispers, carols blare over loudspeakers.
Instead of receiving grace, people go deeper in debt.
Instead of darkness, there are wildly blinking neon lights
Instead of forgiveness, there are fights.
Instead of atonement, there is shoving; disagreement; defiance; loss.

Instead of a tomb ready to explode with new Life, there are empty wallets and empty hearts.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

Advent Calendars: virtual and otherwise

My father was Catholic, and my mother was Southern Baptist. We kids were raised Baptist, so we never knew about the Church Year, but I do recall a couple of times when we had Advent Calendars. Momma taped them in the window of the back door to the porch, which faced east. Each morning before school we kids would take turns opening the tiny glittered calendar window, and the image within would glow with the morning sunshine.

Of course, we had no idea what Advent was, but we DID know and love Christmas, so the calendars functioned as countdowns for Santa. Now looking back, its sad that we didn't understand their true meaning, but it did give me the subliminal message that the Light was coming.

NOw, there are all kind of virtual calendars online. Check them out at the Yahoo Directory , and Anglicans Online.

Beliefnet has one that is more spiritually-focused.

Here are some other good ones:
The Ivory Jesse Tree Calendar, c. 1200

The BBC Bach Advent Calendar plays a musical extract for each day

The St. Margaret Mary, Naperville IL calendar allows no peeking!

The 2007 Episcopal Diocese of Washington calendar offers daily meditations and pictures from the creche display at the National Cathedral.

OT Messianic Prophesies are arrayed in this Jesse Tree Advent Calendar

Finally, there are the Lego City and Littlest Pet Shop toy advent calendars available at your favorite store, but I shudder to think what they have in mind for the 24th.

The Pope's Preacher

Imagine preaching to the Pope. That is what Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa does. He is preacher of the Pontifical Household, and here is an excerpt from his homily, a meditationfor the third Sunday in Advent, wherein he discusses the idea of Christ's prexistence (cf. Galatians 4, 4-7; Wisdom 9:10, 17;1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:15-16;1 Corinthians 10:4; Philippians 2:6-7).

"Despite these passages, it must be admitted that in Paul preexistence and incarnation are truths that are still germinating; they have not yet been fully formulated. The reason for this is that the center of interest and the starting point of everything for St. Paul is the paschal mystery, that is, the work, more than the person of the Savior. This is in contrast to St. John, for whom the starting point and the epicenter of attention is precisely the Son's preexistence and incarnation

We have here two different "ways" or routes in the discovery of who Jesus Christ is. One, that of Paul, begins from humanity to reach divinity, from the flesh to reach the Spirit, from the history of Christ to arrive at the preexistence of Christ. The other, that of John, follows the inverse path: It begins from the Word's divinity to arrive at affirming his humanity, from his existence in eternity to descend to his existence in time. Paul's approach makes the resurrection the hinge of the two phases, and John's sees the passage as turning on the incarnation.

These two approaches consolidated in the epoch that followed and gave rise to two models or archetypes and finally to two Christological schools: the Antiochene school influenced by Paul and the Alexandrian school influenced by John. Neither group was aware of choosing between Paul and John; each takes itself to include both. That is undoubtedly true; but it is a fact that the two influences are visible and distinguishable, like two rivers that merge together but are nevertheless identifiable by the different color of their waters.

This difference is reflected, for example, in the different way in which the two schools interpret Christ's kenosis in Philippians 2. From the 2nd and 3rd centuries, even down to modern exegesis, two different readings can be delineated. According to the Alexandrian school the initial subject of the hymn is the Son of God preexistent in the form of God. In this case the kenosis, or "pouring out," would consist in the incarnation, in becoming man. According to the Antiochene school, the sole subject of the hymn, from beginning to end, is the historical Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. In this case the kenosis would consist in the abasement inherent in his becoming a slave, in submitting himself to the passion and death.

The difference between the two schools is not that some follow Paul and others John, but that some interpret John in the light Paul and others Paul in the light of John. The difference is the framework or background perspective that is adopted for illustrating the mystery of Christ. It can be said that the main lines of the Church's dogma and theology have formed in the confrontation of these two schools, which continue to have an impact today.

(See more of Father Cantalamessa's sermons here or check out his site here. )

This difference in perspective is fascinating, considering the discussions surrounding an entry I posted last year, "Understanding Nominalism, Part 1" and discussions resulting from the recent upsurge in enrollment of Reformed students at EBC. a Pentecostal institution. Fr. Cantalamessa has this wise word concerning those sorts of discussions:

3. Beyond the Reformation and Counter-Reformation

I believe it is time to go beyond the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. What is at stake at the start of the third millennium is no longer the same as at the beginning of the second millennium, when at the heart of Western Christianity the separation took place between Catholics and Protestants.

To give but one example, the problem is no longer that of Luther and of how to liberate man from the sense of guilt that oppresses him, but how to give again to man the true meaning of sin which has been totally lost. What sense does it make to continue to discuss how "justification of the godless comes about," when man is convinced of not having need of any justification and says with pride: "I accuse myself today and I alone can absolve myself, I the man"?[1]

I believe that all the age-old discussions between Catholics and Protestants about faith and works have ended up by making us lose sight of the main point of the Pauline message, often shifting attention from Christ to doctrines on Christ, in practice, from Christ to men. That which the Apostle is anxious above all to affirm in Romans 3 is not that we are justified by faith, but that we are justified by faith in Christ; it is not so much that we are justified by grace, but that we are justified by the grace of Christ. The accent is on Christ, more than on faith and grace.

After having two preceding chapters of the Letter presenting humanity in its universal state of sin and perdition, the Apostle has the incredible courage to proclaim that this situation has now radically changed "through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus," "by one man's obedience" (Romans 3:24; 5:19). The affirmation that this salvation is received by faith, and not by works, is most important, but it comes in the second place, not in the first. The error has been committed of reducing to a school problem, in the interior of Christianity, what for the Apostle was an affirmation of a more vast, cosmic and universal event.

This message of the Apostle on the centrality of Christ is of great importance today. Many factors have lead in fact to put his person in parenthesis today. Christ does not come into question in any of the three liveliest dialogues taking place today between the Church and the world. Not in the dialogue between faith and philosophy, because philosophy is concerned with metaphysical concepts; not of historical reality as is the person of Jesus of Nazareth; not in the dialogue with science, with which one can only discuss the existence or nonexistence of a creator God, of a project of evolution; not, finally, in the interreligious dialogue, where we are concerned with that which religions can do together, in the name of God, for the good of humanity.

Asked about what they believe in, few even among believers answered: I believe that Christ died for my sins and has risen for my justification. And few answered: I believe in the existence of God, in life after death. Yet for Paul, as for the whole of the New Testament, faith that saves is only faith in the death and resurrection of Christ: "if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).

I am grateful to Internet Monk for introducing me to Fr. Cantalamessa's sermons and look forward to reading them regularly.

Meditation for Worship: Dec. 20, 2008

Lord Jesus Christ,
Morningstar and Light of the World,
You became Incarnate as man
in the womb of your humble servant, Mary.

You, through whom the universe was created—
Flaming nebulae and flashing waters,
Gleaming goldfinches, glowing birches--
you began your earthly course,
in the dark interior of a chaste Virgin.

At the annunciation of this miracle,
Mary responded in faith:
"let it be done to me
according to your word."

May we who are made new creatures
by your grace,
respond with such faith,
when you call us to your service.

May we who are redeemed
by Your sacrifice,
bear You, Lord Jesus, into the world,
with Mary’s same love and courage.

Amen

by David Bennet, with additions by Beth Bilynskyj

Dec. 18, 1920

Today would have been my mother's 88th birthday.

Hers was not an easy life. Ruth Gertrude Ekstrom's parents, Marta Petterson and Karl Ekstrom immigrated from Gotland (the Swedish Baltic island) after losing two children in the 1918 influenza pandemic. They prospered in America, only to lose everything in the depression. Her father died of stomach cancer when she was 15, so she and her mother moved in with her aunt and uncle's family in Chicago. Her older brother Ragnar--who had become an excellent swimmer after his grueling battle with polio--drowned in Lake Michigan one fine summer day as the extended family was vacationing at Bethany Beach.

After graduating from high school, she moved with the family to St. Louis, where she went to work at Cluett, Peabody. Later she took a secretarial position with Hammer Dry Plate, where she met Raymond Tichacek. Then came the war. Her mother developed congestive heart failure, so she devoted herself to Martha's care. Shortly after her mother died, Ruth and Ray were married in 1953 by a justice of the peace, as neither my father's Catholic priest or my mother's Southern Baptist preacher would do it.

I came along a year later, followed closely by my two brothers. . Momma finally had found her vocation. She loved children. She would gather us up in her ample lap for hugs, or sneak up behind me as I was curled over homework and give me a kiss on the top of my head. Her hands were strong, stubby and warm: perfect for kneading limpa and caressing kids.

Momma loved to bake but she hated to cook. She would make wonderful cardamom coffee cakes and spritsar, but her Beef STRAG-a-noff was a family joke. Every Sunday we would return from church at 12:30, and she would begin frying eggs and bacon for my father; then four hours later she would again be frying chicken wings and french fries, his favorite dinner. Maybe that's why she hated cooking?

For years she worked at home, as our mom and as secretary -accountant for my father's bindery repair business. She cared for her aunt and her mother in law in their old age. She was faithful and active in her church, teaching a women's Sunday School class for years, as well as participating in WMU at Concord Baptist Church, and leading the WMU at Hanley Road Baptist Church. I remember her typing into the wee hours of the night on Saturdays, preparing her lesson, and my father complaining, "Come to bed! Are you trying to rewrite the Bible?"

Momma always loved to decorate for Christmas, but one year the artificial tree looked odd, as if she had lost the directions for how to put it together. Then immediately after Susan was born, she came to Nebraska to help us out. It became clear to Steve that something was wrong: she couldn't remember her phone number and had to ask him to dial it so she could talk to my dad. Then on a shopping trip, she wanted to return an item, and couldn't remember her address for the return form. Counting money was a challenge as well.

These behaviors alarmed Steve and me, but not my family in St. Louis. They said we were overreacting; but they were in denial. It took several painful years and my father's death for the truth to finally be faced. Alzheimer's is a cruel disease: as bad as it is for the patient, it is even worse for those who love her, and can cause them to react in ways that are not always in the patient's best interest.

Today is not the day to tell that part of Momma's story. Today I prefer to remember visiting her in the skilled care center, watching her nap and gradually rouse. By then she had forgotten my name, and called me "Nice Lady." But that afternoon God gave her a brief respite, and she looked directly at me with her brilliant blue eyes, speaking with great conviction: "Beth, it is so important to love the Lord!" Thank goodness He doesn't reserve holy days only for liturgical churches, because that hot St. Louis summer afternoon we were given Epiphany. Then the clouds gathered again and her confusion returned.

She died four years ago on Valentine's day. I miss her so much! But how can I begrudge her the gift she now enjoys of knowing Jesus, and being known by Him? Someday we will no longer need Advent, because the image of Revelation 21:3 will be a reality. We will not need to fast when the Bridegroom has come. But right now, right here, it is Advent, so I sing in fervid expectation:

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

O come, thou Wisdom from on high,
who orderest all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.

O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free
thine own from Satan's tyranny;
from depths of hell thy people save,
and give them victory over the grave.

O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer
our spirits by thine advent here;
disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
and death's dark shadows put to flight.

O come, thou Key of David, come,
and open wide our heavenly home;
make safe the way that leads on high,
and close the path to misery.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind;
bid thou our sad divisions cease,
and be thyself our King of Peace.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Gloria in Profundis, by GKC

CT has a fine online Advent Calendar, combining both word and image.

This entry, from Day 5, has a penetrating verse by G.K. Chesterton, accompanied by Kim Heung Jong's Christmas Scene.

Gloria In Profundis

There has fallen on earth for a token
A god too great for the sky.
He has burst out of all things and broken
The bounds of eternity:
Into time and the terminal land
He has strayed like a thief or a lover,
For the wine of the world brims over,
Its splendour is spilt on the sand.

Who is proud when the heavens are humble,
Who mounts if the mountains fall,
If the fixed stars topple and tumble
And a deluge of love drowns all—
Who rears up his head for a crown,
Who holds up his will for a warrant,
Who strives with the starry torrent,
When all that is good goes down?

For in dread of such falling and failing
The fallen angels fell
Inverted in insolence, scaling
The hanging mountain of hell:
But unmeasured of plummet and rod
Too deep for their sight to scan,
Outrushing the fall of man
Is the height of the fall of God.

Glory to God in the Lowest
The spout of the stars in spate—
Where thunderbolt thinks to be slowest
And the lightning fears to be late:
As men dive for sunken gem
Pursuing, we hunt and hound it,
The fallen star has found it
In the cavern of Bethlehem.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

University Chapel, Glasgow

catch them if you can...concerts and choirs live from the University Chapel, University of Glasgow.

24-hour web cam coverage...sometimes it's only the lighted tree...lovely, with wonderful acoustics. I caught a fine guitar recital in November.

Seasonal Sacrifices

Randall Friesen nailed it: And now we sacrifice humans to the god we serve.

The rush to blame has begun. Police and the family's lawyer hold Wal Mart responsible for Jdimytai Damour's death. James Wolcott blames the media:

What you don't see in these Black Friday updates are interviews with the people who work in these mall chains, who have to show up at even more ungodly hours than do the shoppers in order to stock the shelves and prepare for the store openings. Openings that get nearer to the Thanksgiving meal each year, with some stores opening at midnight on Thanksgiving day and others at 4 AM on Black Friday, forcing workers to cut short their own holiday plans and put in exhausting zombie hours. It's become an arms race between the major chains, and putting a stop to these excesses and exploitations is a stellar case for unionization. I see countless inane interviews with shoppers carrying bags full of booty, interviewer and interviewee competing to see who can be more effing cutesy, but nothing with the cashiers or shelvers after they've put in a long shift. How much does a security guard or greeter make at one of these malls? It never occurs to any reporter (or assignment editor) to ask; it would be a breach of journalistic etiquette to try anything that Studs Terkel. If nothing else, it would be nice if CNBC and the other cable networks would at least stop hyping Black Friday as if it were the Super Bowl, grinning and ruminating about it as if it were some durable and endearing national tradition. Quit treating shoppers loaded with merchandise dragging their fat butts across the parking lot as if they were some hardy breed of buffalo hunter heeding the call of the wild. For an ironic postscript, you can hardly do better than this:

About the time that Mr. Damour was killed, a shopper at a Wal-Mart in Farmingdale, 15 miles east of Valley Stream, said she was trampled by a crowd of overeager customers, the Suffolk County police reported. The woman sustained a cut on her leg, but finished her shopping before filing the police report, an officer said.

So far I haven't heard much about holding the 2000 shoppers accountable. Sometimes sheer numbers make it impossible to assign responsibility. It's far easier to point the finger at those with names and bank accounts.

Sigh. The truth is we are all still tempted by the same gods as the Israelites.
Though we no longer name it Baal--"giver of abundance--" we still worship material goods and economic prosperity.
Though we no longer name it Ashtoreth, we still glorify lust and sexual prowess.
Though we no longer name it Molech, we still exalt power and the ability to destroy.

How will we repent this Advent?
We have a chance to honor Datour's memory, and to truly celebrate Christ's coming. Advent Conspiracy has some suggestions, but here's a couple of really basic things I'm going to try to do:

1) I'm going to be mindful of clerks, cashiers, stockpersons and others who serve me. I'm going to silently give thanks for them and pray that God will bless them. I'm going look them in the eye and to smile. Acknowledge their efforts and sympathize with their situation. Give honest compliments. Say thank you. Treat them not as objects, but as persons who may have aching feet and backs and families waiting for dinner.

2) When I'm in a long line I'm going to try to be patient. I'm going to surprise someone behind me by letting them go ahead of me.

3) I'm going to support our youth in their "Walk for Water."

I want to stop sacrificing myself and others to false gods. I want to sacrifice myself for Jesus. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship." (Romans 12:1).

Venite Adoremus!

The Episcopal Church and Visual Arts Exhibition

via Brad

"Venite Adoremus" is the title of an online exhibition of artwork inspired by the hymns of Advent, Christmastide and Epiphany. Below are my favorites. Be sure to read the commentary for each work, and the accompanying hymn. (I trust I am not infringing copyright by reproducing these images here...if so, I welcome correction. My sole intent is to give readers a taste of this wonderful exhibition, so that they will want to visit the site for themselves.)

O Antiphons
Digital Art, November 15, 2005
Jan Neal

MIRABLE DICTU (Wonderful to Behold)
gouache on paper board, 1969
15x10 inches
Harvey Bonner


"Rejoice! Rejoice, believers and let your light appear..."
watercolor, ink , and pencil, December 2004
12x9.5 inches
The Rev. Kristy K. Smith

Epiphany
oil on canvas, 2004
48x48 inches
The Rev. Nancy Mills

Meditation for Worship: November 30, 2008

Father,

A new year is beginning for us,
as we turn away from the world’s calendar and return to yours.

Shine on us, Lord, and light our way!

We confess we are an impatient people,
but if your light burns away our restlessness, we will not wander.

We confess we are a complacent people,
but if your light melts our inflated egos, we will watch for you.

We confess we are a weary people,
but if your light shines upon us we will not sleep,
but will rise in the warmth of your love.

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Southern Baptists and Advent

Sunday will be the first Sunday in Advent, and lately this blog has been getting lots of traffic regarding an entry I wrote a year ago, entitled "When the Southern Baptists Discovered Advent."

I take this to be an indication that Baptists are no longer defining themselves negatively, but are embracing that which has always been rightfully theirs, as Christians.

When I was growing up Southern Baptist in St. Louis in the 60's-70's, we identified ourselves by what we did NOT do or believe. For example:

1) Catholics and Lutherans had Advent and Lent. Baptists did not.
2) Catholics and Lutherans smoked, danced and drank. Baptists did not.
3) Catholics and Lutherans "read" prayers. Baptists did not.
4) Catholics and Lutherans made their kids go to "confirmation." Baptists did not.
5) Catholics and Lutherans sprinkled. Baptists did not.
6) Catholics and Lutherans believed in sacraments. Baptists did not.
7) Catholics were against abortion, therefore Baptists were pro-choice. (Yes, this is not often brought up, but it is true. Look here and here and here and here and here).

I am thankful to be able to live to see my Baptist brothers and sisters identifying with the greater history and larger ecclesiology of Christ's Body, the Church. It will be interesting to see if they continue to live into their inheritence, discovering other treasures, such as the practice of the entire church year and the discipline of the lectionary.

Meanwhile, may our voices join together as we sing. "O Come O Come Emmanuel." That is something we all can agree on!

If you are new to Advent and are looking for resources, here is a good place to start. And here is a helpful view on Advent from "the other side."

The Slip by Wendell Barry

The river takes the land, and leaves nothing.
Where the great slip gave way in the bank
and an acre disappeared, all human plans
dissolve. An awful clarification occurs
where a place was. Its memory breaks
from what is known now, begins to drift.
Where cattle grazed and trees stood, emptiness
widens the air for birdflight, wind, and rain.
As before the beginning, nothing is there.
Human wrong is in the cause, human
ruin in the effect--but no matter;
all will be lost, no matter the reason.
Nothing, having arrived, will stay.
The earth, even, is like a flower, so soon
passeth it away. And yet this nothing
is the seed of all--the clear eye
of Heaven, where all the worlds appear.
Where the imperfect has departed, the perfect
begins its struggle to return. The good gift
begins again its descent. The maker moves
in the unmade, stirring the water until
it clouds, dark beneath the surface,
stirring and darkening the soul until pain
perceives new possibility. There is nothing
to do but learn and wait, return to work
on what remains. Seed will sprout in the scar.
Though death is in the healing, it will heal.


Christian Century, June 5, 2002 by Wendell Berry

Hail Joseph

VCC Meditation
Dec. 23,2007

Hail Joseph

Full of doubt and anger,

Emmanuel, the Lord, is with thee.

Blessed art thou among men,

and blessed is the child not born of natural descent,
Nor of human decision,
Nor a husband’s will, but born of God: Jesus.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
You were the first to see his glory, the glory of the One and Only,
Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Righteous Joseph,
foster father of Jesus, God with Us,
show us sinners the way of waiting,

now and in the hour of our distress.

(c) Beth Bilynskyj

Nouwen on the Mystery of the Incarnation

I've been reading Henri Nouwen's Lifesigns this Advent. Here is a wonderful passage on the incarnation:

Words for "home" are often used in the Old and New Testaments. The Psalms are filled with a yearning to dwell in the house of God, to take refuge under God's winds, and to find protection in God's holy temple; they praise God's holy place, God's wonderful tent, God's firm refuge. We might even say that "to dwell in God's house" summarizes all the aspirations expresssed in these inspired prayers. It is there fore highly significant that St. John describes Jesus as the Word of God pitiching his tent among us (John1:14). He not only tells us that Jesus invites him and his brother Andrew to stay at his home (John 1:38-39) but he also shows how Jesus gradually reveals that he himself is the new temple (John 2:19) and the new refuge (Matthew 11:28). This is most fully expressed in the farewell address, where Jesus reveals himself as the new home: "Make your home in me, as I make mine in you" (John 15:4).

Jesus, in whom the fullness of God dwells, has become our home. By making his home in us he allows us to make our home in him. By entering into the intimacy of our innermost self he offers us the opportunity to enter into his own intimacy with God. By choosing us as his preferred dwelling place he invites us to choose him as our preferrred dwelling place. This is the mystery of the incarnation...

....Conversion, then, means coming home, and prayer is seeking our home where the Lord has built a home--in the intimacy of our own hearts. Prayer is the most concrete way to make our home in God.