Weekly Readings Reflections: Holy Family Sunday

Our readings for Holy Family Sunday of Advent are:

The Bible is full of people of great purpose, whose lives were dedicated to God's service: Noah, Moses, Abraham, Samuel, David, Ruth, Deborah the prophet, Mary, ... We all in some way benefit from their ministries, but they can be a little scary. We wonder, just how disruptive to my current way of life might God be?
When you meet someone new and start talking about yourself, what is the first thing that comes up? Is it your job, where you're going to school, your dreams and aspirations, your faith?
What does that tell you about your priorities?
Do you expect to keep doing what you are doing until you cannot do it anymore, or do you think that there are changes ahead in your life?
How will you know for sure?

Certainly a church standing empty can be a profound place for meditation. The celebrations that have happened there through the years soak into the walls and woodwork in some mystical way, and faint echos of the loud hosannas through the decades can still be heard. And yet ...
Who do you miss that you no longer see? They may have died, left the area, stormed out of the local church in protest, or stored out of Church period. Maybe they are folks that God is calling today, and we have not met yet.
How were you welcomed into your present church/Church?
What parts of that original welcome are still with you today?
How might you share that welcome and belonging with others?

I have a friend, whose children are all grown and out of the house, and who has very few family nearby. Each Thanksgiving, he & his wife invite folks to their home who have nowhere else to go for Thanksgiving, and give them a place to belong, even if only for one evening.
Ultimately, where do you belong?
What are some communities where you belong here in your life?
What has your membership in those communities taught you?
How might they have prepared you for heaven?

God has a way of failing to match our expectations. Hopefully, when that happens in our lives, we can learn from that. And just maybe, the very act of seeking Him is, itself, a form of prayer.
When you have sought God in your life, what were you seeking? Was it a closer walk with God, a better relationship with your spouse, guidance for a tough decision?
Where/when/who did you find God in that encounter?
Is it always that way for you? Is there just one place/time/person where we can find God?
How has the act of seeking God in your life changed you?

He's All Grown Up

I can still remember changing His swaddling clothes when He was an infant.

Feeling His warm breath on my cheek when I would hold Him after nursing Him.

Feeling His heart beating so close to mine, and knowing peace like no other.

When Joseph and I first realized that He had not left the Holy City with the caravan,

We panicked. There was no one to go back to Jerusalem with us, no comforting companions.

We were on our own through those treacherous trails. But we had no choice.

Jerusalem never looked so vast as it did when we were seeking our lost boy there.

Joseph and I so distraught that we could not speak to each other.

Each of us fearing the worst.

Finally, we sought Him in the Temple. At least we could pray for him there.

And we heard His still new man voice among the learned teachers.

At first, I was horrified that He dared to disturb their sacred deliberations.

But we stopped, and listened to what was going on, and were amazed.

Each time that He spoke, there was silence, a pondering of what He said.

Not dismissal.

And I knew then that my boy had somehow, without asking permission, become a man of God.

And I knew that things between us would never be the same.

And I knew what I did not know: His future and mine.

The joy of finding Him mixed with the fear of losing Him.

My words were sharp and angry.

And I wondered that day why I had responded that way.

He was never really ours from the beginning.

His a life consecrated from the beginning.

So like my life, Joseph's and yours.

Welcome to our family.

Shalom!

Weekly Readings Reflections