Longing For Home At Advent

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14

In the opening lines of the first chapter of the Gospel of John, the author invents a new way of speaking about how God chose to enter into history.  

He speaks of Jesus as the universal Christ or the  Logos, a Greek term which we translate into "Word."  

Basically, he took a Greek concept of the Logos as a kind of creative, divine expression and re-interpreted it with his new understanding of what God was up to in the world through Jesus.  

To put a fine point on it.... the author of John's Gospel thought that God was up to something pretty flipping huge---a bold plan to become one of us, and to demonstrate how far God was willing to go to rescue those whom God loves.  

And in verse 14, the author spells it out...  The Universal Christ, the Logos (Richard Rohr uses the term Blueprint) moves into our neighborhood, makes a home among us, and invites us in.  

The late Henri Nouwen loved this notion, and took it even further.  He wrote of of God quite literally being our home---the place among us where we are free to rest, to find hope and peace.  This is what he wrote:  

God wants to be our room, our house.  He wants to be anything that makes us feel at home.  She is like a bird hugging us under her wings.  She is like a woman holding us in her womb.  She is Infinite Mother, Loving Host, Caring Father, the Good Provider who invites us to join him.  

During this Advent season, as you journey from place to place---shopping, buying groceries, going to and from work... pay attention to something that is at work just below the surface of all of the hustle and bustle.  

There is a sense of restlessness around us, isn't there?  A pining for the familiar, perhaps.  A desire for connection to something real, something eternal.  You might even call it... a longing for home.  

As you begin to pay attention to this longing in your own spirit and the spirits of those around you, know this:  Home is where the Logos is.  And the Logos, the Christ, the Word is all around us, in us and through us.  

You are home, beloved.  You are home.  Rest in this knowledge and let it bring you peace and hope during this season of expectation.  

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.