Mansion
/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; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. - this Sunday’s collect
This Sunday’s collect is the second in a row that does not follow the usual collect formula, which I described in the blog last week. Unlike last week’s collect, this one has all the usual parts, just switched around. So I could switch this one around to the classic order:
Almighty God, who visits us daily, purify our conscience that your song Jesus Christ at his coming may find in us a mantion prepared for himself: who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
But enough of the way collects are usually structured. Read back to last week’s blog if you missed the whole explanation.
What caught my attention about the collect this week was the idea that we might be found as a mansion prepared for Christ. There’s a passage from John that is often read at funerals that says, “In my father’s house there are many mansions.” Because of that passage, whenever I think of a mansion being prepared for someone, I usually think about God preparing one for us, not the other way around.
However, as we focus on Mary in our liturgy this Sunday, we acknowledge her key role as the earthly host for Christ. Her faith is characterized by her willingness to allow God to enter right into her life and even her body in order to bear Christ into the world. She was Jesus’ home here on earth, just as moms often are for their children in a deep and lasting way, long after gestation and birth.
Mary is upheld as the purest example of a selfless faith, but we all are called to offer our whole selves as a home and a channel for God. There are so many examples of people doing this in the Bible. I think about Abraham welcoming the three strangers to stay with him in the desert, offering them the best of his meager grain, milk and even a young calf . I think of the great risk Rahab took to shield God’s people, offering them a safe haven and hiding place in her home. I think of Peter’s mother-in-law, who gets her body right up out of her sickbed to serve Jesus and the disciples. I think about Lydia, offering lodging food and funding to Paul on his missions, and I think about Martha, who worked long and hard to provide Jesus and his friends food and welcome in her home. So many stories show people offering the kind of faith that is represented by Mary - the faith that says yes - I will welcome Christ into this world through my own self.
Speaking of Martha, my last church was in the town of Bethany CT, and in the Bible, Bethany was the town where Martha, Mary and Lazarus lived. It was where Jesus often went after long days or long journeys to be fed and nourished by Martha’s deep hospitality, Mary’s assuring attention and Lazarus’ friendship. I used to tell my parishioners that since we, too, were in a town called Bethany, we were also called, like them to offer ourselves as a home for the weary Christ. That was very convenient that the town we lived in gave us that initiative, but it is really a call given to all people of faith - to receive others as Christ with deep humility and welcome.
I wonder how often God is looking for a home in us - or for a home to be offered to others through us - and our consciences are just too hazy, busy, preoccupied or closed off to offer God hospitality and welcome. Our collect this Sunday reminds us that God visits us daily - constantly, really. How have we each made a space in us to allow God in - to do holy work in the world through us and through our choices and actions? How have we intentionally endeavored to do that as a church community?
