2nd Sunday in Advent

     We lit the second candle of Advent today.
Our theme for today was mystery.  I spoke of a concept that C.S. Lewis wrote about called Sehnsucht —the longing for the mysterious, the wonderful, the other-worldly that our daily experience does not satisfy. I also noted that the dictionary definitions of mystery included references to the divine, the sacramental and aspects of Christ's life, like his passion and the incarnation that have a mysterious quality to them.  I believe that God as our creator designed Christ’s coming into this world to have an air of mystery about it so that we would curiously be drawn to this amazing event year after year.  
     But what I really concluded was that the greatest mystery of all however is the fact that the God of the universe, in all of his vastness, decided to enter our world through his Son Jesus Christ, in humble circumstances, through ordinary people in order to reveal his great love for us.  God draws near to us so that we might draw near to him.  And by doing it through humble means, He ensures that anyone, no matter their lot in life, regardless of race, class, gender, intellect, virtue, family lines or age, may come to know God through Jesus Christ.   
      Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that “this is the unrecognized mystery of this world:  Jesus Christ.  That this Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter, as himself the Lord of glory: that was the mystery of God.  It was a mystery because God became poor, low, lowly and weak out of love for humankind, because God became a human being like us so that we would come to him.  God is the one who becomes low for our sakes.  This is the depth of Deity whom we worship as mystery and comprehend as mystery.” 
     It is mysterious that the God of all creation would care so much for us.  And yet he does.  All he asks of us is that we accept His gift of love.  I hope you do.