December 4, 2020
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Dear Lake B Family and Friends,
God is descending. Coming to us, Word made flesh. Wait. Pay attention. Street Psalms Advent Devotional (excerpt) The Incarnation reveals what has been hidden since the foundations of the world (Matt. 13:35)—that God is always lovingly coming to us in and through the concrete realities of everyday life, even—especially—in the harsh realities. This is the very thing we least expect. As a result, “the world knew him not...and his own received him not” (John 1:10-11). The world’s blindness should not surprise us. After all, who among us is not surprised by the counter-intuitive, ever-descending Gospel of Jesus? Who is not astonished when Jesus sets up camp in the most unlikely places, and reveals God’s love hidden under layers of fear, guilt, and shame? The relentless miracle of our faith is that God seems to enjoy sneaking up quietly from behind, revealing himself in the most earthy and natural ways. It was God’s delight to be formed in the darkness of Mary’s womb and be born bitterly yet beautifully like the rest of us. God is born from within our own experience, which is, ironically, the very thing that we find most difficult to inhabit or accept. We are forever running from and neglecting the deepest mysteries of our human lives— missing the truth that our humanness itself bears the gift of our salvation. As Paula D’Arcy observes, God comes to us disguised as our lives. God comes most naturally through broken people and broken places as well as our own broken experience to say, “I am here!” This is the way of the Lord. Consider: How is God coming to us in and through our own concrete realities of our everyday lives? In what way, specifically, are you in need of the miracle of the Incarnation in your life? How is the Word becoming flesh in you? Practice: Candles are a central symbol used during Advent, representing “God with us” as the “Light of the World.” Find a time to light a candle during the course of your ordinary activities of the week, rather than as a special event. It might accompany you doing the dishes, paying the bills, working at the office, or practicing your trade. Give special attention to the mystery of the Incarnation in our everyday lives. With hope in Christ for the journey, Lina |