God Takes Us In; We Belong to God

We humans hunger to belong. As a result, tracing one’s genealogy has become very popular. Ancestry.com has three million members.  People upload family histories and search for connections. Studies of 

young people reveal that they are more passionate about where they belong than about what they believe. 

Belonging was important for Jesus as well. The angel said to Joseph, “Do not be afraid to take Mary into your home.” Joseph could have quietly thrown her out. Instead, the just man from  Nazareth took her in. He offered the young pregnant Mary a roof over her head and a family lineage. He provided her a place and a people. Thus Jesus, adopted as his son under the Law of Israel,  became a descendant of Joseph’s “house of David.” 

Having a land and a people was important to the Hebrews. These things are important to us as well. Yet many people in this world are uprooted. Refugees and immigrants have no country, no place of belonging. Children who are passed from foster home to foster home do not know that security of belonging. They live on the edge of place. 

We belong in this world, but at the same time, we don’t belong.  As an Advent people, we acknowledge that we are pilgrims on this earth. We too live on the edge of place. St. Paul says that we are called to belong to Jesus Christ. We don’t abandon our family and our heritage, but we acknowledge that all that is, is God’s. God is our home. God is our Source and our Goal. The Lord does not throw us out, but has taken us in and fully adopted us. God has given us a place to belong. 

Consider/Discuss 

• We wonder, “Where do I belong?” and “To whom do I belong?” As we come close to Christmas, think about the joys that God has given you in belonging, especially those you may take for granted. Think about the ache of not belonging as well. What can we do today to strengthen those bonds? 
• On this Sunday, three days before Christmas, how we spend our money,  our time, and our energy reveals much about to what we belong. Where and how are we invested? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

O come, Emmanuel, God-with-us; come into our hearts, hear the  sound of our cry. The tensions of Christmas are intensifying. We  need to rest in you. We need a place to belong. Like Joseph, take us  into your home. We are searching not for a God of distance but the  God of presence. When we need it most, hold us in your loving arms.