1st Sunday of Advent

December 2, 2007



Today is a new beginning…a new year for the church of Jesus Christ...a time when we once again prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord….a time to also prepare for the time that He will come again.

This is a new time for prophecy, a time for calling us to conversion, a time of preparation, and a time for us to heed the words of St. Paul: “It is now time for you to wake from sleep.”

Thomas Merton speaks strongly about Advent when he tells us: “The Church in preparing us for the birth of a great prophet, a Savior, and a King of Peace, has more in mind than seasonal cheer.

The Advent mystery focuses the light of faith upon the very meaning of life, of history, of humanity, of the world, and of our own being.

In Advent we celebrate the coming and indeed the presence of Christ in our world.

We witness to His presence even in the midst of all its inscrutable problems and tragedies.”

(Merton, Thomas. Seasons of Celebration, page 89)

So, my friends, here in this new church year, there is more than simply meets the eye – more than preparing for Christmas – more than piously anticipating the second coming of Christ which, quite honestly, we probably don’t think about very much.

Advent is a time in which we seriously need to have a look in our spiritual mirrors and see if there is God-space in our lives and in our hearts.

Mary, Mother of our Lord, provided God-space in order that God could become incarnate in our world.

Upon hearing the astonishing message of Gabriel that she would be the mother of the Messiah, she needless to say was perplexed.

What does it mean…..how will it happen?

Gabriel simply said: “With God nothing is impossible.”

And, for a moment heaven held it’s breath until Mary said: “Let it be to me according to your word.”

And, God-space was created at that moment in order for God to step out of eternity into time and into the heart of every human being.

At that moment our story became God’s story, our space became God-space.

As you know, I am very technologically challenged.

For example, I have no idea what the computer website “My Space” means.

I wouldn’t know how to get there, and if I did, I wouldn’t know what to do with it.

But, I think it has a significant theological message:

My space…. my turf….all about me.

How easy it is to get caught up into turf guarding and space watching.

It happens to us as people, it happens in the church.

A pastor recently told me of having someone poke his finger in his chest and say, “This is my church.”

But, the pastor replied, “This is Christ’s church.”

“No, this is my church.”

When the word “My” is strongly used, it can be a signal of no trespassing, and can easily exclude others and it can exclude God.

Robert Jenson, a marvelous Lutheran theologian writes: “If God is to have to do with his created world and not just coexist with it, and especially if he is also to allow creatures to have to do with him, he needs space in his creation from which to be present to other spaces therein and at which to allow creatures to locate him; he needs, if I may put it, a “pad” in creation, a “pied a terre” a created space to be his own.

For God to have a history with us, he must have a place not only in himself but in our world, in our space.”

(Braaten, Carl and Jenson, Robert: Mary, Mother of God, page 51-52)

Between the God-space created in Mary and the God-space created when Christ will come again, you and I are responsible for creating God-space in our own place in our own time.

In our first lesson today, we hear the prophet telling us: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

How wistful those words sound in these days when nations are at each other’s throats and there is violence and the suffering of the innocent literally all over the world.

But, could it be that if we provided God-space in this world, the words of Isaiah just might come true.

But, how can this be? What can we do here at the corner of Moorpark and Leigh?

Remember the words of Gabriel: “With God, nothing is impossible.”

My brothers and sisters we only need to give him space in our lives: the rest is up to Him.

So, look in the mirror.

Is my space chock full of myself, my ways, my priorities?

Is my space totally full of the glitter and materialism of this world?

That’s nothing new, really.

There wasn’t room for God in the inn at Bethlehem.

Jesus himself said that he had no place to lay his head.

Is there room for him here, now, with us?

Jesus said: Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them and them with me.”

In a moment Christ will invited us to share the space of his table in order that He may give us His body and blood.

Is there as much space in our hearts for him, as there is in his heart for us?