Advent reflection 3 - No room for God?

1. Read Luke 2:1-7 NIV

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in a cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

2. Consider

He could not have been busier. Bethlehem was bulging at the seams, under the weight of all the extra people in town for the census.  He loved it when the inn was full and noisy and vibrant with chatter. People. He was definitely a people person. He did his very best for his customers - he cared about their opinions and their needs, and of course, his reputation.

It had been a bit unusual, but at the time, he had thought nothing of it.  He had been in a rush, as usual. He had put them in the outhouse where he stabled the donkey and the goats - what else could he have done? At least it was dry there and fairly private.  From the looks on their faces, and the size of her belly, it seemed that their baby was on its way.

Oh God - when have I relegated you to an outer room?  I know that I sometimes leave you on the sidelines, while I busy myself with ‘more important things’, juggling one distraction with another, as they vie for my attention and time. Forgive me when I fail to remember that you alone ground me, you define me, you sustain me.  Not the other stuff.

Quietly, tucked out of the way, on the edge and in the margin, Jesus slipped into our world then, 2000 years ago. Now, as we celebrate God with us, and remember His coming, this year, may we, today, not forget that His resurrected presence woos us and beckons us into greater intimacy and revelation.

Is there really no room for more of Him in me? Or is it that there is no more room for Him?

I allow these thoughts to tumble over themselves in my mind.

Have I dismissed the whisperings of something more, something bigger, and beyond? Am I too content with the little that I’m familiar with? Maybe the crumbs under the table, when He has laid, before me, a feast?

As in that most famous of all birth stories, God today continues to hide himself in plain sight, waiting, longing, even, to be sought and found. ‘Draw near to me, and I will draw near to you’. Perhaps we have drawn as close as we can bear, but then, again perhaps we have not…

Let’s determine to move over, make some space, place more importance on coming in closer to the Saviour - taking time to listen, to watch, to be awed, to be reminded. Not rushing away.

I will make more room. I must make room for more of Him.

3. Reflect

• Does one of these apply to you, do you think?
  
  a) In my life there is definitely room for more of God (e.g. in my finances, relationships, work, lifestyle, health)?
  
  b) I don’t really want or need to make more room for God in my life.
  
  
• Can I name the fear that drives me  keeping Jesus away from my health, my finances, my relationships?
  
  
• Do you think that if Jesus was invited in to take a more central place in your day to day life, that actually, your whole life could begin to feel and look different?