Today is December 16th in the 3rd week of Advent.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.  
 
Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.  
 
Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2.  
 

“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. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.” 
 

This is a very subtle record of the coming of Christ into the world, don’t you think. One verse! As we begin our time of prayer, consider Mary. She’d traveled to Bethlehem late in her first pregnancy. She gave birth in a stable. Her firstborn was laid in a food trough. And then we read: there was no guest room available for them. Here we have the Son of God, and the hope of the world. And the world already has no room for him. Take some time to contemplate whatever this brings up in you. 
 
We are in the last week of Advent-time now. How much room in your mind, your heart, your schedule… is open, for you to abide with God this week? How difficult is it for you to slow down and quiet yourself today? 
 
Take time now in prayer – perhaps, even pause this devotional. Welcome God into your week. Try to still you to-do lists, and instead prayerfully imagine Mary – in the midst of a chaotic mess – beholding her newborn son, Jesus. Try to organize the scene in your mind, and take time to wander through it. 
 
Make room in your heart today, for Christ’s presence to enliven you. And make room in your day today to be His body in this world, where there is all too often no room made for Him. 

Come, thou long expected Jesus, 
born to set thy people free; 
from our fears and sins release us, 
let us find our rest in thee.
 
Behold, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… 

In the name of the Father, and the son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.