There's a longing in all of us. A homesickness no house or holiday can cure. Even at our most joyful gatherings, even in our most festive rooms, we feel the ache of a home we've never fully known.
Yet once on a night unlike any other, God came down not to a palace, but to a borrowed stable, neither welcomed nor wrapped in honour, but in rags. Christ came to us homeless. so that we could be at home in God. The child laid in straw once prophesied long ago was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. So that now the place we find rest isn't in a perfect room or a peaceful routine. It's in a person, Jesus Christ. He is our shelter in the storm, our warmth in the waiting, our welcome in the wandering.
This Advent, we will focus on several passages in Isaiah where the promises of God – fulfilled in either Jesus’ arrival or his second coming – proclaim to us that while we long to find peace, belonging, and comfort this time of year, our ultimate Christmas gift is our citizenship in his kingdom. For He is the Home who has come to win us back from exile, keep us safe in His embrace, and promises that we will someday reside with Him forever.
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Prince of Peace Church