December 16th
David’s room was rarely tidy with many games on the floor at one time. Losing parts and spending time searching for them could be a full-time pursuit. At school things were different, there were less things in David’s bag; only the things he needed for that day. Dad was in the shed as David returned from school…
“Hi Dad, today we learned about the solar eclipse – Why is your pencil behind your ear?”
“Ha, that’s so I know where it is. I use it a lot when I am making things, marking out the parts I need to cut”
“It’s when the moon comes between us and the sun, casting a big shadow over us – when’s the next one?”
“I’m not sure, we can find out – then it will depend on the weather as to what we might see.”
For Joseph and Mary, life was a mess. Things were not the way they should be by their cultural standards. The order in which things should have happened was messy.
There are orders that we cannot avoid, such as a solar eclipse – it’s a constant cycle, an enormous clock constantly ticking.
Our lives are complicated and messy but we try as best we can within the order of things. Just think how messy it can be to host family and friends for Christmas celebrations. Also, within our personal thoughts, knowing that things could be much better.
Then, God steps into our mess through the incarnation of the Christ child. He offers to clean up our mess and to set us free to walk a clearer path. What will be our response?
Romans 8:1-4
Life Through the Spirit
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Prayer
Father God, you coexist with the Word and the Spirit before all time. Thank you for sending your Word in the form of Jesus the Christ. You became messy to take away my mess. I pray that each day I am reminded that I am not part of the mess but part of your Spirit. Amen.
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Tomorrow – Laid on Straw