Building Our Houses on Rock this Advent
by Julia Strukely
When I was in my twenties, I went through the majority of that decade attending every kind of wedding that you can think of. I was beginning to feel like the main character of the 2008 movie, “27 Dresses”, as I accumulated my own set of satin bridesmaids dresses in my closet. To reference another early aughts film about weddings, there is a scene in “Wedding Crashers” where Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson try to guess what the first reading of the wedding ceremony that they are attending will be. As a Catholic, I could relate to this scene as I had by now heard everything from Genesis to Song of Songs to 1 Corinthians 13 at various ceremonies.
During this time period, one of my cousins was married in the Catholic Church. My family has strong Catholic roots on both my father and mother’s side and I am fortunate that many of us have continued to embrace the faith that we were raised in. My cousin selected a gospel reading for her wedding that, had I been playing out the scene of “Wedding Crashers”, I would have lost the guessing game miserably. She and her now husband selected the gospel reading that we hear today about the house built on sand versus the house built on rock.
I sat there in the church of our childhood curious as to why she would pick this gospel for her wedding as it wasn’t a common one to use. It wasn’t the Wedding at Cana and didn’t have any direct messaging about husbands and wives. But as I meditated on the gospel for today, I began to see that it was a perfect reading for married couples beginning their life together. My cousin and her husband were declaring to us that they wanted to build their new life together on the solidness of faith. For as Jesus says in today’s gospel, not everyone who cries “Lord, Lord” will enter heaven. We have to build a strong foundation of faith throughout our lives, represented by the image of the house built on rock in today’s gospel.
The readings for today, at first glance, may also seem curious for Advent as I had initially thought the gospel was for a wedding. There is no mention of Mary or angels or the other typical images from the Bible that we might associate with Christmas. Rather, in the first reading, the prophecy of Isaiah says that from the land of Judah there will be an opening of gates for those who keep faith. The psalm and the gospel today also echo this idea of greeting those who build their faith on solid ground and trust in the Lord.
In this time of Advent, we are laying the foundations of our faith in the Incarnation- the truth that God was made flesh and dwelt among us. We are readying ourselves and our homes to invite others and Christ in. The readings today remind us that Advent and Christmas aren’t just about an infant in a manger or angels, but about our own call to lay a foundation in our hearts to receive Christ in a new way every day.
As we reflect on these readings today we can ask ourselves, “how am I building up my faith this Advent?” Am I just going through the motions which is like building a house on sand, or am I really growing in my faith? If we haven’t made any Advent promises or intentions, maybe now is the time to set them. We can think about the things that will help us to build a solid faith: the reading of Scripture, contemplation, and service to others. Hopefully, the steps that we take this Advent in our prayer and in our acts of service will lay the foundations of a house built on stone, one that is ready to receive Christ and others in a fuller way this Christmas.
Find Julia at @sevenmilechats on Instagram and Facebook.
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