God Kindles a Fire in Our Darkness
Christmas feels like home and all the comfort that word conjures up inside of me. And yet, I’m acutely aware as we read this Gospel tonight, that the first Christmas was anything but home for Mary and Joseph. They were not home for the holidays when this day first became holy. They were at the end of a long journey, having just left their home, a journey that had been made much more difficult given the late stage of Mary’s pregnancy.
God is with us
On the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we always hear of The Annunciation, that story of the angel coming to prepare the new parents for the coming of their child. When we use the phrase, The Annunciation, we usually refer to Mary’s Annunciation when the angel came to her. That is Luke’s story, but this year we are given Matthew’s story, which is a lesser known annunciation of the angel coming to Joseph.
