Ever since her mother tried on the gloves in the department store,
her ten-year-old daughter decided this would be her present to her. For
weeks, she put aside part of her allowance; she earned extra money
doing chores and running errands for neighbors. On Christmas morning,
she saw the delight on her mother’s face as she opened the box. In the
joy she experienced in bringing joy to her mom, God was born.
A group of volunteers from a local church have spent the past
dozen weekends at the building site. Under the direction of the
professional carpenters and trades folk who have donated their time, as
well, they framed the house, enclosed the building with sheet rock,
painted and tiled, and are now completing the finishing work. Whether
they realize it or not, they are building more than a house for a family in
need: They are making a dwelling place for God.
One night a week, she returns to her classroom at the local high
school. Her students are not teenagers but adults who never finished
high school and immigrants from Latin America and Asia. Together they
struggle through vocabulary, spelling and literature. With each new
word understood and passage grasped, this young teacher gives birth—
to God.
The great Dominican theologian Meister Eckhart preached that
“we are all meant to be mothers of God” for “God is always waiting to
be born”. God seeks to be born in our own loveless stables and forgotten
caves; God waits to come to life in Bethlehem’s of anger and
hopelessness; God makes a dwelling place for himself in the Nazareth’s
of our homes, school and workplaces. On this first day of 2023, we
honor Mary, the Mother of God, under her most ancient title, that of
Theotokos, the Greek word for “bearer of God”. In baptism into the life
of Mary’s child, we are called to be “bearers of God”—to give birth to
God, every one of us, each in our own way.
I close, today the New Year 2023 lies before us like a blank
canvas. So many possibilities—more than just the simple resolutions we
steadfastly keep until kickoff time of today’s first football game. But a
whole new year, an entity of time, begins today. We Christians believe
that God has sanctified all time in his work of creation and his recreation
of the world in Christ. May this new year, be truly new for each one of
us—a time for renewal, for making this year a year of peace in our
hearts and homes, for becoming the people of compassion God calls us
to become. And may we always remember that every day can be a new
start, that God enables us to always begin a new canvas, that we can
erase the crooked lines and the clashing colors to begin a new work of
art reflecting the beauty and light of God’s life and love. Jesus—Be born
again and again through us 2023. Amen
Tags: 1-1-2023