“Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

The time is nearly here. Today, I suspect that most of us are wrapping up (er, pun intended) the to do list for getting ready for Christmas. If we are ahead of the game, all the gifts are under the tree, and we have been able to turn our attention to the prep work necessary for cooking a Christmas meal for our families. 

Perhaps, today of all days is the day that feels the most hurried as we strive to get things exactly right for our Christmas celebrations. Most years, my Christmas Eve day is a day filled with last minute preparations as I hurry from one place to the next to pick up those last minute gifts or ingredients for something I am cooking. The traffic is always heavier than I want it to be, and it is inevitable that things take much longer than I anticipated. 

And in the midst of all the busyness of the prep work, God is calling out to us to prepare a place in our hearts for the Christ child.  Indeed, the collect for the week invites us to create a mansion for the Christ and that we may have the eyes to see and ears to hear the daily visitation of God’s son. We are invited to remember that God is doing wonderful and amazing things in our midst. The valleys are being raised up; the mountains are being made low. The rough places are being made smooth. 

And so, we welcome God into our hearts through prayer and thanksgiving, and I can think of no better prayer for today, in our final moments of preparing ourselves to welcome the Christ child, than through the words of Zechariah when he sings:

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; *
    he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior, *
    born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old,
that he would save us from our enemies, *
    from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers *
    and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham, *
    to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
Free to worship him without fear, *
    holy and righteous in his sight
    all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, *
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation *
    by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God *
    the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the
                             shadow of death, *
    and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

May Christ find in you a mansion prepared for him, and may you know the joy and warmth of the mystery of the Incarnation in your heart. 

In Christ,

Hunter+