Reflection by Tina Butt

Thanksgiving has been over for twelve days. Dishes are washed and put away. Christmas is sixteen days from now and I’m not quite ready to sort through the Christmas ornaments. It's a time quiet, of hush. The past is gone — the promise of the future is standing in a pregnant pause.

This is Advent. This is the time to breathe in the anticipation of joy that is to come. It's like that moment in the wedding when all the guests turn and look down the aisle, waiting for the first sign of the bride. It's like the time in the theatre when the lights dim, the audience silences and all wait in anticipation for the adventure ahead.

In this holy silence we can feel at one with Mary and Joseph — that non-traditional family anticipating life with their non-traditional child. Something wonderful is happening — wonder-filled. God is coming to be with us.

Take time to today to rest in this wonder. Matthew's gospel tells the good news that Jesus is Emmanuel – “God with us” (1:23). This is the fulfillment of God's ancient promise that we have heard in Isaiah 7:14 and 8:8. On the first Sunday after Christmas we will hear the gospel of John proclaim this good news in another way. In 1:14 the English translation says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The original language says that Jesus as the Word “pitched his tent on OUR side.” Paul, in his letter to Romans (8:31), shouts it out — “If God is for us, who can be against us?” This is indeed good news, and we rejoice.

Rejoice always,
Pray constantly,
Give thanks in all circumstances;
For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16