Practicing what I preached...wrote...last time about just being in the midst of the holy. I invite you simply to listen to this beautiful version of Silent Night letting it wrap around you with a warm embrace that lets you breathe and be.
Enjoy.
Prayer: (inhale...counting to three) (exhale...counting to four). (Breathe in peace...breathe out worry.) (Breathe in hope...breathe out the need to micromanage, control.) (Breathe in joy...breathe out smiles.) (Breathe in love...and be/belong to that love.) Repeat as many times as needed or necessary ~ caution ~ may be all day. Amen.
On Christmas Eve in 1818 a blizzard stranded the tiny village of Ogledorf nestled in the Austrian mountains. That same day the people of St. Nicholas' church found their organ broken. So the priest and organist began composing a song that could be sung without an organ yet beautiful enough to express their Christmas joy. All day and all night long they worked and at midnight the gentle carol Silent Night was born. The pure clear tones echoed through the hills and the world has been captured by the beauty of that simple song ever since.
It is easy in these last few days before Christmas to make a mad dash toward perfection. To get caught up in a flurry of over-functioning. To let all the worry of whether the now-wrapped present of the tree is really what the person wanted, especially since s/he just hinted about something that would have been awesome...why...o why...did s/he not say that four weeks ago, for all that is good and holy!
The sacred simplicity of this Carol sings a different tune to our hearts. One that reminds us of sacred interruptions...remember Mary and Joseph didn't go to Bethlehem to visit relatives, they were forced. One that reminds us that life is not perfect...remember Jesus was born in a barn. One that reminds us that God's arrival doesn't depend on us, Christmas comes regardless of what you or I do or buy. Perhaps that is why this Carol still sings us to the manger every year. We come, holding a candle, because God's light of love has just been born anew, afresh in our hearts. We come, drenched in light amid darkness of Christmas Eve night, because that moment speaks more than a sermon ever could ~ God is always creating and crafting, dancing between light and darkness.
And we are called to offer a few words that sing of the sacred simplicity; we are called to stand next to the outcast shepherds, because we have our issues too; we are called to be.
Be in God's presence.
Not just four days from now...right now. God with you. That is the grace that guides us every day, the love that leads us if only we let it. That is always the invitation...so let this Carol sing to you one more time, beckoning you to the manger where God arrives in the "regardless-ness" of our imperfect holy lives.
Prayer: Present God...help us focus less on what is under the tree and more on the gift of Your movement in our midst here and now. Amen.
Enjoy this jazz version of one of my top three favorite Carols...as you listen, let these words soak, simmer, and sit in your soul....sing to your heart ~~
O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light;
the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
For Christ is born of Mary and, gathered all above, while mortals sleep, the angels keep
their watch of wond'ring love. O morning stars, together proclaim the holy birth,
and praises sing to God the King,and peace to men on earth.
How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv'n! So God imparts to human hearts
the blessings of His heav'n. No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive Him still the dear Christ enters in.
O holy Child of Bethlehem Descend to us, we pray Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us Our Lord Emmanuel
O come to us, abide with us Our Lord Emmanuel
This Carol was meant to be played as jazz in my non-musical opinion. There are lines in this Carol that stop me every time I sing them. Words like, "the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight." What hopes do you carry with you to the stable this year? What fears? We live in a world where all too often fears ride in the front seat of our lives picking the radio station (to use an image from Elizabeth Gilbert). Too often our hopes seems like wishful thinking (even foolish). Why do we spend more time talking about the struggles (which are real), than we do talking about the ways God is still creating/crafting in our lives?
I also love the line that talks about how silently God enters into our lives. It isn't with clamoring commotion, but in the still small silence of love. So often, it can be hard for God to get a word in edgewise when we are always filling any space with either the sound of the television or even the visual noise of constantly checking our cell phone. What...I am in line at the store, I should fill this void with seeing what is going on Facebook? By the way, I totally resemble that remark!
But it is that final line, for God to abide with us that sinks so deep into my heart. For me to embrace and be embraced by the here-ness of God not only when I sing these words and goosebumps race up and down my arms...but in the middle of March when I am just trying to get by or the middle of July and I am sweltering or next September when one of my kids will be in high school! (Good Lord, how did that happen??)
The abiding God...that is one of the truths of Christmas. The abiding God is really what we are preparing with great anticipation to welcome. Not because God hasn't been in our lives ~ surround and sustaining us ~ but because in the blur of every day, I am not always great at noticing the traces of God's grace.
Listen again...let the soulful jazz sing to our soul as if from the lips of God right next to you.
Prayer: Enter in, O God, even if my heart resembles a teenage bedroom. Enter in, O God, even to my cluttered soul. Make Yourself at home, I pray.
Listen as the hauntingly beautiful solos of the clarinet and tenor invite us draw near to this holy mystery. Here are the words to follow along:
1. I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die.
For poor on'ry people like you and like I...
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.
2. When Mary birthed Jesus 'twas in a cow's stall,
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all.
But high from God's heaven a star's light did fall,
And the promise of ages it then did recall.
3. If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing,
A star in the sky, or a bird on the wing,
Or all of God's angels in heav'n for to sing,
He surely could have it, 'cause he was the King.
The closer we get to Christmas, when the smell of the straw first starts to ride the airwaves to our senses, the stars faintly twinkle over our heads, and we realize what we have been preparing for is about within our reach...
The closer I get to Christmas, the less I feel like I can say. How do you really explain God's love? Certainly not with the scientific method...it cannot be proven. How do you tell someone else the holiness of God awakening the sacredness within us? Certainly not with a graph or Powerpoint presentation. How do you point toward the ineffable and indefinable and indescribable grace upon grace when others simply shrug?
What happens within us, to us, and around us at Christmas is a wonder beyond words. What happens within us, to us, and around us is at once sacred and scary...why do you think we give lip service to letting this last all year long...then promptly turn to taking control again by making New Year's resolutions? It is vulnerable to encounter, experience the vulnerability of God. We'd rather cling to a God who is in charge...like a CEO. We'd rather talk about a God who is about power rather than weakness. A God who likes rules rather than relationships. A God who is distance rather than so close.
But if we wonder as we wander out under the star-filled sky...the mystery...hauntingly beautiful... really can find space and place in our heart to make us different. Wouldn't that we wonder-filled holy kind of moment?
Just because I want to complete the angel trifecta...here is Angels from the Realms of Glory...and here are the words for you to join the choir to sing along:
Angels from the realms of glory,
wing your flight o'er all the earth;
ye who sang creation's story
now proclaim Messiah's birth:
Refrain:
Come and worship, come and worship,
worship Christ, the newborn king.
Shepherds, in the field abiding,
watching o'er your flocks by night,
God with us is now residing;
yonder shines the infant light: [Refrain]
Sages, leave your contemplations,
brighter visions beam afar;
seek the great Desire of nations;
ye have seen his natal star:
A few of these lines leap out and land in my lap as I listen. First, the image of the angels singing creation's story. I love that creation has a story, albeit one that right now is heart-breaking as we witness ice caps melting and the earth's temperatures rising. Moreover, living as I do in Florida, I am well aware that the sea level is rising too. Look out a window right now...what is creation's story telling or trying to teach you? Again, in a place where I am always surrounded by green (albeit shades of that color), I do notice that the grass is dormant compared to just a few months ago. I notice that plants have slowed their growth. While there is life, it is singing a softer tune and telling a slower story. To align my circadian rhythm with creation invites me to slow down.
Second, the image of sages leaving your contemplations...it is easy for me to get stuck in my head. After all, it is where I have some of my best insights and ideas. But to leave what comes naturally or feels normal for a new place. That is really what Scripture attests to over and over again. Abraham and Sarah leave the only home they knew for some undisclosed location; Moses leaves his father-in-law to go back to Egypt where he was an outlaw; Elijah flees for his life and gets called back to the people who wanted his head on a platter; prophets are called to speak truth to those in power (which throughout history rarely ends well); Jesus leaves his home to travel to people who are lost, lonely and feel left out/left behind. Leave seems to be one of God's favorite words.
If you had to leave right now...could you? Would you? I might say, "But my kids have finals this week." Or, "I have Christmas Eve services to get ready." Or maybe leaving isn't always physical but to leave behind that which is no longer helpful. Can I leave behind worry and fear? Can I leave behind working and wanting to prove myself? Or do I think they will just follow me to Bethlehem and beyond to 2018? Perhaps, but you never know if you don't start out.
So come...come and worship the One who is out in front beckoning and calling to us.
Prayer: God of the road less traveled, help us find pathways that respond to You, even when we have to let go and leave behind some of the luggage we've grown accustom to carrying. Amen.
As you listen to this playful version of the Carol...I pray it brings a smile to your face and you find yourself singing out with gusto these words (just be careful if you are in public while reading/watching this...but you totally have my permission to belt it out...and if I am there I will join you in singing too!!)
Angels we have heard on high,
sweetly singing o'er the plains,
and the mountains in reply
echoing their joyous strains:
Refrain:
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
which inspire your heav'nly song? [Refrain]
Come to Bethlehem and see
Him whose birth the angels sing;
come, adore on bended knee
Christ the Lord, the new-born King. [Refrain]
As we cross the threshold to the last week before Christmas...I offer this hymn to you just as a playful and joyful reminder that what we are about to experience cannot ever be confined or contained by words...which is why I love Carols so much.
So, join me in listening to this again, letting the melody awaken our imaginations and may you sense God is near, in the now, and here in your life.
As you listen to this beautiful version...prayerfully pay attention to the second and third verses...that go:
Christ by highest heav'n adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold Him come,
offspring of the virgin's womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail the incarnate Deity,
pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.
Hark, the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”
Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
ris'n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
born that we no more may die,
born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give them second birth.
The thought that springs out of this version/video for me is that line: "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail (praise) the incarnate (in the flesh) Deity, pleased as us with us to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel (which means God with us/God for us)". Those line take a life time to really soak in, saturate, sink into our soul. We so often think of God as out there, separate, different and distinctive and distant. God can't be here in our lives! We exclaim. God can't be here when this isn't perfect. God can't be here with all the racism, sexism, discrimination against LGBTQ brothers and sisters. God can't possibly put up with us like this. Obviously, if God was here, things would be better.
A couple of things to such a line of thinking. Kent Dobson reminds us that, "We are not a problem to God." We are not some burden, some obligation, some mistake. Just as God is a mystery to us, I believe, we can be a mystery to God. Yes, God fashioned, formed, loved us into being. But I believe we are endlessly interesting to God. Consider God close as our next breath wondering, "Curious that Wes decides to do this or say that..." Or God with joy saying, "Yes, that whole unconditional part of love might actually be breaking through words like, 'worthiness' or 'expectations'". After all, what part of unconditional do we not get?
God enters in not when everything was at its most perfect. Remember, Caesar was still oppressing and crucifying people. Herod was still a tyrant. Life was still stressful and painful. People still fought and biases built walls between people. Suddenly, I am not just describing then and there two thousand years ago, I am talking about here and now. We still let unprocessed pain get passed along, we still hurt and harm one another with careless words, we still are saying, "They...those people... are the problem." But, if Kent is right, then not only are you not a problem to God...neither is that person. Perhaps that is why we still hold the mystery of the incarnation...God's love coming so close. Because good news like that can't be controlled or confined...it breaks out and breaks down any conditions we want to put on it. And if it is good news for us and others...that could change everything. And the truth of this Carol proclaims...is that it still does.
Prayer: God, let Your presence with me help me notice and name that You are also with all people. Amen.
