From the Pastor's Desk: Making our Hearts Mangers for Jesus

We are less than a week away from Christmas.  Advent always seems to go fast.  Granted it is only 4 weeks long, yet it seems way too fast to prepare for the day we celebrate God entering the world as a human being, a baby born of the Virgin Mother. 
 
When we recount the story of birth of our Savior, we see the struggle of a young family who is trying to just make it to Bethlehem so that they can be counted by the Romans.  As they arrived, we remember there was no place for them to stay.  So they stayed in a stable and Jesus was laid in a manger or a food trough for animals.
 
This seems like the most illogical beginning of a story for someone who is the Messiah.  Yet, that is the point.  God enters into the world to take on and transform the human experience of original sin into the redeemed children of God.  The lowliness and poverty that Jesus takes on tells the story of the human experience.  We are all lowly and poor due to our fallenness and sinfulness.  God in his goodness and mercy takes that on so the we may be raised up out of that state and be restored to the people God created us to be...in His image and likeness.  We were not created to be lost, broken, and disillusioned.  We were created to live in the peace and love of God's life.
 
Yet, that is the story we all walk... the hospitality of the manger.  God invites us into a new relationship.  We walk knowing that our sinfulness can weigh us down, the Incarnation of God becoming human in Jesus Christ heals, restores, and makes us new again.  God rescues us from ourselves and reforms us in his likeness.  

Over this Christmas how can our hearts be the manger for Jesus.  A place where he is welcomed to stay and be kept warm, so that he can make our hearts ready to welcome all those around us.  God shows us the axiom belonging leads to believing.  We belong to God first, and He guides us to greater belief and faith in Him. 
 
This Christmas, let us make sure we are saying hello to people around us.  If they are new to you, please ask them if they need anything.  Be ready to welcome someone you may not know into the pew next to you.  We will be welcoming many people this Christmas, how can we help others and see Christ when they arrive this year.  Belonging leads to believing.
 
This January into spring we have an opportunity for all those who have not yet gone through the Rescue Project. Come and check it out. Ask those who have gone through it already of their experience.  The Rescue Project helps us to renew our relationship with God and those around us.  Please take some time to check it out.  
 
Let's make our hearts like the manger, so that Jesus may always be welcomed into our heart.  
 
Have a blessed Christmas!
 
In Christ,
Fr. Brian

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