2 Samuel 7:1-6
Psalm 89: 1-4,19-29
Luke 1:67-79
Christmas Eve! Have you finished your shopping?
What about the first Christmas Eve? Mary and Joseph were “shopping” for a place to stay and all the rooms were taken. Lots of people were in Bethlehem for the census count. When I was in the 7th grade, there were too many Church School children for the traditional pageant production and so new roles were created. I was a wealthy woman eating grapes in the lobby of the inn just as Mary and Joseph were turned out into the stable. We, in the lobby, had no idea what gift was to be given to us and to everyone, for all ages. How would we have acted If we had known that the gift was Divine Love?
Now 2020 years later, what does God want us to be shopping for? Hoping for? Listen to the words of Zachariah as he looks forward – looks forward even to today.
“You, my child will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people.”
Divine Love cannot be hoped for or shopped for. Divine Love is God’s Gift of Love, incarnate in Jesus. To quote Bishop Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, “Now is the time for all of us to show – in our words, our actions, and our lives – what love really looks like.” [The Washington Post, May 31, 2020]
No matter what stage your shopping is in, is it time to revise your list? At the top put “Offer your love to others – tomorrow and each day!” You can and will make Divine Love incarnate.
Martha Bartlett
