The nativity is a story
of displacement. Mary and Joseph are
displaced from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
The animals’ feeding-place is displaced from the manger to the floor, as
the manger is commandeered as a safe, warm cot for the baby.
Can we, too, make room
for Jesus by embracing – or even creating – displacement in our homes?
Here is an
example. Our previous home had room to
sleep five additional guests, in beds, without any of us having to give up our
bed. It was, admittedly, a luxury – and one that our current house cannot
boast. So if we have visitors, there are times when the children have slept on
a mattress on the landing floor, or we have given up our bed to guests and
slept on a sofa-bed in the living room. And while this doesn’t equate with
being a refugee, it is in fact pretty close to Mary and Joseph’s experience,
where his relatives displaced themselves enough to make room for them in the
(one, shared) family room, as the guest room was already full.
The displacement of
doing a familiar thing in an unfamiliar location is enough to cause us to have
to think about the thing we are doing – and that can be very good for us. It can cause us to value certain things we
have taken for granted; or open our eyes to new possibilities, such as how we
use space, how we use space to extend invitation to others.
Why not take to eating
in a room you don’t usually eat in during Advent;
or move the furniture
around in your living room;
or keep something you
use on a daily basis in another place so that you have to make a conscious
effort to get it each time you want to use it?
As you experience
displacement in small things, pray for those who experience displacement
through conflict, rejection, lack of basic infrastructure, or travel away from
home.
Advent:
making room for Jesus – in displacement.
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