There is joy and blessedness in being permitted to witness in an age of doubt and unbelief to that precious faith committed unto us. 
The Rt Rev'd H.B. Whipple, Founder of The Church of the Good Shepherd, Maitland, Florida, 1881

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 - Collect for 4 Advent

Dearly Beloved in Christ,

We have lit the fourth candle on our Advent wreath!  This season of Advent preparation draws to its culmination in a few days with the angels heralding glad tidings of great joy. 

We have walked with Mary as the new life has grown within her virgin womb.  This week's collect reminds us that the Christ Child comes to take up residence in us - "in a mansion prepared for himself."

Like new parents we are to clean the junk out of the place set aside for the baby.  There are cobwebs to be knocked down, dust balls to be located and swept out, we are to prepare a nursery just for the Christ Child.

What are the cobwebs and dust balls in our lives?  The cobwebs are the sins that we hold onto because we refuse to acknowledge that they are sins, or because we have grown accustomed to them and don't want to do the necessary work to knock them down.  They have familiar names: unforgiveness, pride, anger, resentment, lust, envy. 

The dust balls are often times more difficult to get to.  They congregate in out of the way places.  They are those sins that we feel so guilty about that we want to keep them hidden away from God and ourselves.  We know in our heads that God forgives sins that we have repented of, but we cannot trust that he can forgive these sins, and they remain lurking in dark places, out of sight but not altogether out of mind.  The Enemy uses our guilt to tell us that we are worthless, that we surely can't be loved of God, or anyone else if they were to find out, that we are just kidding ourselves if we think we can start afresh.

But the Child who came, and who still comes, reveals the lies that the Enemy sows, for he comes with healing and forgiveness on his wings.  He comes to remove both the penalty of sin and the guilt of sin - let him.

For the One who came, and comes again is Immanuel - meaning God with us.  He comes not to condemn but to save.  He comes to make us new.  He comes to take up residence, to transform us from the inside out.  Will he find in you a mansion prepared for himself?  It is his greatest desire - to give you the gift of himself - the greatest gift the world has ever known, and the tag reads "With love from God to ____ (fill in your name)."  Are you willing to receive this gift that comes wrapped in the vulnerable, fragile skin of a newborn babe?

In His Peace, Grace, and Love,
Rev'd Sarah+