(adapted from “Out of the Ordinary” by Joyce Rupp. p. 24)

God of all those who yearn for a glimmer of Hope on the long journey home to you, come! Come with a vast storehouse of renewed dreams, hopes, and peacefulness.
The journey toward Bethlehem has begun once again.
Last Sunday we were invited by the children to embrace the Joy of the season – to sing and dance and make music and laugh - and rejoice in the Lord always.
Today, we continue the journey in the spirit of Hope.
As we do about this time each year – because it is the season for doing such things - we join Joseph and Mary, and all the multitudes of those heading to the place of their birth to be registered.
We are on our way back to a place that we left long ago – the place of our ancestors - and we wonder how much will have changed since the last time we visited.
How much has the old neighbourhood changed?
How much have the people changed?
How much have WE changed?
Every year we walk this familiar road, at every year we come to the same inn and hear the same words – SORRY – NO ROOM.
We know our fellow travelers - the pregnant Mary, the tired Joseph.
We know, also, how the story ends - with angelic voices singing ‘Glory to God in the highest’ - and shepherds kneeling in awe before the baby who is lying in a manger.
We’ve been here so many times that for some of us, it holds little interest.
It’s just the same old same old.
For some people, the trip to Bethlehem is nothing more than an inconvenient intrusion into an already busy life, and quite frankly, it can’t be over soon enough.
For some travelers, the baggage is heavy and there is a feeling of being weighed down with deep, bone-wearying fatigue;
but for other people, the trip is the highlight of the year and always will be.
Their bags have been packed for weeks and they can’t wait to get going.
Regardless of the attitude with which we walk this Bethlehem road, we do so with one thing in common - the deep down, perhaps secret heart-desire to peek into the manger, and in this season of gift giving, to be reminded that the Gift is right before our eyes in the face of the Child – the One who comes to bring Hope to our hopelessness.
For everyone who is in need of Hope this day, perhaps this is your prayer:
God of Hope, come! Enter into my memory and remind me of the yearning of your people throughout history – how they hung on to your promises - how they stole hope from tiny glimmers of your presence, how they strained to hear the whisper of your still, small voice. Help me to hear the persistent voices of your prophets who have always proclaimed that a new day – a brighter day - would dawn. Amen.
The hope-filled words of the prophet Isaiah ring in our ears –
In the last days, many peoples will come and say, ‘Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord – He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’”
We have been to the mountain of the Lord. Every time we gather for worship, we are there. This is at least one of the places where we hear God’s teachings – to act justly – to love mercy – to walk humbly with God.
It is in this place that God speaks each week through hymns and scripture and silence and sermon - teaching us to live our lives from the standpoint of love –
urging us to think deeply and long about what it means to be worshippers of God, followers of Jesus, and servants of the community.
It is in this place that we hear God’s voice beseeching us to live from an economy of abundance, generously using our resources for good purposes -
and not living from an economy of scarcity that has us holding and protecting our resources.
For those who are in need of a measure of Hope this day, perhaps this is your prayer.
God of hope, come! Enter into this heart of mine which too often loses itself in itself, missing your invitation to walk with you, because I am so entangled in the web of my own whirl of life. Do not let me forget your teachings of compassion, generosity, and justice for all. Amen.
Barbara Brown Taylor is a best-selling author, teacher, and Episcopal priest.
She has served on the faculties of numerous Colleges, Universities and Theological Seminaries. In 2014 TIME magazine included her on its annual list of Most Influential People.
In her book Home by Another Way, (p. 3ff) Barbara tackles the passage we read from Matthew’s gospel, interpreting it in the spirit of deep Hope.
As strange as it might sound, she suggests that we are all in need of Jesus to intrude into our life, “coming like a thief in the night.”
She writes this; “According to Matthew, this thief, this intruder…is someone with no respect for other people’s boundaries.
He sees the home security sign in the front yard as a helpful clue to the kind of system he must dismantle.
He sees a door full of deadbolts as an invitation to come in by the bathroom window instead.
If he is really good at what he does, then there is no way to keep him out.
All he has to do is watch you and you will show him the way in.
The question is, what is he after?
He is not interested in your jewelry or your television set.
He is interested in you, although apparently not the daytime you - the one most people see while you are out doing whatever it is you do in the world –
pulled together well enough so that you pass for normal...
Whatever else is going on inside of you, it is usually possible to manage it during the daylight hours, if only because everyone around you seems to be managing too.
Then you get home and (your family needs you), the cat is hungry, (the dog needs to be walked), and the answering machine is blinking so fast you cannot count the lights.
Once you have dealt with all that, it is dark.
The evening passes the way so many do. It is over before you know it and you are the last one awake.
You check the doors and the windows before you head off to bed…
Now is when you should listen out for the thief, because now is when he is interested in you - when you think no one is watching, when you think you are alone…
Now is an excellent time for him to slip past your defenses, to disarm your security system and enter your safe space.
Why would a compassionate Lord do a thing like that?
You know why;
Because it is the only time when your guard is down…
That is why he comes when you least expect him - because he knows how badly you need to be broken into, and how hard you will resist...
That is why Jesus will come back like a thief in the night; so that we do not have time to lock him out.
As long as we are successful at that, we will never know what a peculiar thief this really is who comes - not to take but to give.
If we could ever once handle our fear of his intrusion – if we could ever once let him in to do his work – then we might find him emptying his pockets instead of filling them, giving us so much more than the poor little piles we have spent our lives protecting.
The threat is not outside the door.
It is inside us – in our misplaced fears and our misguided defenses.
Keep awake therefore – not to keep the intruder out but to let him in.
If you are in need of a measure of Hope this day, perhaps this is your prayer:
God of hope, come! Enter into my heart, and calm my restless spirit.
God of hope, come! Break through all my defenses, and replenish me with the
Hope-filled blessings that only you can give.
God of hope, come! Come in and make of our lives a home where there is always room for you. Amen.