First Thursday of Advent
From Wilshire Advent Devotions 2009
Luke 2:1-4: 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.
There’s something magic about “coming home” for Christmas – the anticipation building with every mile until at last you burst in the door and find yourself in the warmth of family and friends. The first opportunity I had for such a trip, I decided to do it big.
During Christmas break from college I rode a Greyhound bus from Dallas to Tucumcari, New Mexico, to join my older brother on a long, winding drive home for the holidays. In the span of four days and a thousand miles we saw some sights, visited friends, bought some gifts and horsed around. We survived ice and snow, too little sleep, too much fun, and a blowout on my brother’s pick-up truck.
There was nothing holy about that trip, although the mountains in the winter snow can be heavenly. Little resemblance either to the grueling journey of Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem – except that our goal was to arrive at our childhood home in time to be counted among our people.
Since then I’ve learned that you don’t have to actually travel to “come home” for Christmas, because our most important journeys are spiritual and emotional rather than physical. There have been years when I’ve traveled hundreds of miles but my soul hasn’t budged an inch, and times when I’ve stayed at home and yet my spirit has soared to the far side of the sun. What we experience depends on our focus.
It also depends on whether or not we’re paying attention. Looking at pictures from that trip with my brother, I recall that a highlight was standing high above the village of Eagle Nest and looking out across the Sangre de Cristo (blood of Christ)mountains. Had I been paying attention that day I might have wondered if the narrow road coming down off the rocky pass and across the valley resembled the rugged path that Joseph and Mary followed. I might have reflected on how their trip to Bethlehem was the first leg of a long journey to our salvation through the true blood of Christ.
So, where will your advent journey take you this year? How far will you travel – physically, emotionally, spiritually? What will you see and experience? With whom will you travel? With whom will you be counted at journey’s end?
Father, thank you for the journey of Joseph and Mary. Travel with us now on our Advent journey. Guide our steps, thoughts and spirits so that we may arrive safely at the destination you have chosen for us. Amen.