Advent Week 3 – A Lot of Houses

“Mommy, why is the church Jesus’ house?” Our four year old asked from the backseat on the way home from church on a recent Sunday. His question came on the heels of my admonishment at the end of the 10:30 service, when I’d had enough of his running through pews and wrestling with an older brother while we chatted with friends. “Stop running in church!” I’d whispered-yelled to him as I pulled him close. “This isn’t a playground, it’s Jesus’ house!” A half hour later, his little, curious voice told me as much about the posture of his heart as it did his locked-safe memory. Somehow he is always bent towards wonder, even when I haven’t been sensitive to his tender spirit. Grace upon grace, here God was turning a harsh moment into a teachable one and an opportunity.

“Why is it Jesus’s house?” I repeated. “It’s his house because it’s where his people gather. It’s where we go to worship him and pray and celebrate on Sundays and on other important days together with his people.” There. Maybe it wasn’t the most theologically sound answer, but it seemed to satisfy his four year old theology in the moment. As we continued driving, his simple response to mine was, “Jesus has a lot of houses!”

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” (Jn.1.14) When I reflect on John 1, my eyes fall to this truth. My heart is compelled by it. He became flesh and lived among us. He dwelt with us. He was here on earth, born a human baby in the humblest of circumstances, raised a boy to human parents and surrounded by imperfect people—some who loved and some who hated him, sent to bring good news offered for all, and destined on a path begun long before the manger.

He lived among us, and he dwells with us now. “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (Jn.1.16) So we enter Jesus’ house on a Sunday morning to be with him and with his people, to worship, to pray together, to hear his Word, to revere him. And it’s his house because it’s where his people gather, a space worthy of our respect and awe and wonder. As I harriedly parented our four year old on Sunday morning in that sacred room, I immediately felt a nudge from the Holy Spirit, “Yes, this is Jesus’ house. And little feet running through the pews and down the aisles are more than welcome. They bring him JOY.” Grace upon grace.

This simple nudging was a gift—a reminder of Christ within the walls of the church, but also a reminder of Christ in me. He came down to be with us, and later sent the Holy Spirit to indwell within us. This means the old can pass away. The new has come. We don’t have to stay in our old patterns of perfectionism, shame, pride, performance, self-pity, indulgence, immorality, or anything else that would otherwise overtake us. We can act and respond with grace, love, acceptance, under- standing, justice, kindness, compassion, and mercy—not under our own power, but because Jesus makes his home among us and answers our sincere prayers to make us more like himself. This grace isn’t reserved for Sunday mornings, but is available in every moment, without pretense.

“Jesus has a lot of houses!” When my son exclaimed this joyfully, I knew he was thinking about the churches on every other corner in our community. Lots of churches must mean Jesus lives there, in every one. And while we know that’s true, what’s also true is that Christ makes his home wherever we are, because Christ makes his home in us. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Ps.100.3) He protects us, guides us, brings us back to himself, and calls us his own. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

Written by Molly Kehrer

WEEK 3 INTERIORIZATION
Read it over and over again. Make notes.
Write it out. Draw Pictures. Get it inside.

He was in the world,
and the world came into being through him;
yet the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
and his own people did not accept him.
But to all who received him,
who believed in his name,
he gave power to become children of God,
who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh
or of the will of man,
but of God.