Advent 4A ~ "Leap of Faith" ~ Susan McGurgan, D. Min.

Sometimes, it's hard to see the Holy Spirit at work in our lives, when that Spirit turns our lives upside down. Sometimes, it's hard to believe a message from God, when the message seems to make no sense. Sometimes, it's hard to receive a blessing, when it carries both sacrifice and pain.

Sometimes, it's hard to tell a dream from a nightmare.

Yet, this is how the Birth of Jesus Christ came about.

A heavenly messenger. An unbelievable story. A leap of faith. For Joseph to believe in the Word of God, he first had to suspend belief in everything he had believed to be true. For Joseph to trust the Word of God, he would first have to launch himself off a cliff, and trust that God would break his fall.

And no matter how many times a messenger—even a heavenly messenger—tells you, “Do not be afraid…" these are fearful and frightening events. Because in Joseph's world, in our world, virgins don't get pregnant, Kings aren't born to peasants, and angels don't usually make house calls. Yet, this is

how the Birth of Jesus Christ came about.

it is tempting to look back on that moment when the Word became flesh

and see it as miraculous, yet removed from our own lives. An amazing story

that happened to saints long ago; plaster statues whose palms never sweat,

whose knees never buckle, whose hearts never pound with terror and joy.

It is tempting to look back on that event and freeze it as a moment in time;

to encase it in swaddling clothes made of laminated plastic and turn this world-

changing, universe-shaking, explosion of God into our world into a Holy Card

that we can tuck safely away between the pages of our Bible, or into a crèche

scene that marches tamely across the dining room table.

Yet this story can’t be tamed, or controlled, or contained neatly in the past.

It leaps off the page and into our lives each and every day. Like Joseph, we are invited to help birth Christ in our world—by working for justice even when it’s easier to walk away. By speaking the truth to oppression even it’s safer to be silent. By telling this Story time and time again, even it seems that no one is listening. It’s a challenge guaranteed to make our hearts pound and our palms sweat.

Like all births, it will probably be painful and messy and disruptive. It is hard, difficult labor that will turn our lives upside down, and demand all we have to give. There will be days when God’s messages make no sense and times when God’s blessings seem dubious, at best. Like Joseph, it might be hard to tell a dream from a nightmare. We may feel as if we are jumping off a cliff, with nothing but trust to break our fall.

A heavenly messenger.

An unbelievable story.

A leap of faith.

For Joseph, and for all of us, this is how the birth of Jesus Christ comes about!