Homily for Fourth Sunday of Advent

The line of Scripture that captured my imagination these past few days is found in our first reading from Samuel where king David says: “Here I am living in a house of cedar and the Ark of God dwells in a tent.”

I wish that David had left well enough alone. The Ark of the Covenant contained the stone tablets with the 10 Commandments, a golden jar of manna which God provided for the hungry people, and the rod of Aaron which Moses used to bring water out of the flinty rock. It all represented the presence of God dwelling amidst the people and it was totally portable. I like that last characteristic the best. God moving with and among the people — I like a God who does this.

David, of course, was King, a leader with an army, and powerful people like to use their power to build monuments and show their wealth in stunning visible ways. So, David is going to enshrine the Ark in a temple where none but the high priests could see and visit it — removed from the people’s presence.

The Christmas feast we are about the celebrate speaks volumes about how much God wants to be Emmanuel, God with us. God doesn’t want to be locked up in a temple or tabernacle but wants to be intimately with us — it is why we were given the Eucharist. God not only wants to be with us but wants to be us and wants us to share in God’s own divine life.

Leonard Bernstein wrote Mass with music, dance and singers, for the opening of the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C, on September 8, 1971 in the epistle they sing: “You can lock up your bold men, you can lock up your bold men and hold them in tow, you can stifle all adventure for a century or so, but you cannot imprison the word of the Lord.”

The Advent season and the coming Christmas season speaks volumes about God wanting to be with us. It also shows us where we can find God, find the Christ we seek.

God’s Word came not to the rich and powerful, but to the lowly, the humble and the outcast. God’s Word, powerful as it is, did not come in power but in weakness and vulnerability, in Jesus. Jesus came, not because we built him a fine temple or church but only came because he desired to be with us. All we can do is utter the same yes that Mary uttered —- nothing more is needed.

The other thing our Advent and Christmas stories tell us is that daily life really matters, even the dull and boring stuff we just gotta get through, all of it really matters. God’s Word becomes flesh not at a convenient time but actually at a very inconvenient time: responding to Roman demands for a census so everyone could be taxed; can’t do it at home, gotta go to where you were born, so the traveling, finding food, lodging, packing and unpacking — does any of this sound familiar for you who are traveling during this season? God’s Word becomes flesh in the middle of all our stuff and all of our activities. God is always right here, right in front of us we waiting for our yes.

Perhaps the best Christmas present we can give is not found under the tree, or wrapped beautifully — but is simply our presence with one another, for one another. On behalf of all the Paulist Fathers and the entire staff here at Old St. Mary’s Cathedral, Merry Christmas and we hope that you will find that the Christ Child has pitched His Tent in the middle of your lives.