This week we are
leaning in and listening to the wisdom of the Carol, Who Would Think That
What Was Needed. Today, I invite you
to read the third stanza slowly and prayerfully.
Centuries of
skills and science span the past from which we move,
Yet experience
questions whether with such progress we improve.
In our search for
sense and meaning, lest our hopes and humors fray,
God surprises
earth with heaven, coming here on Christmas Day.
I believe we live
in the space between the second and third line of the verse above. We wonder whether we are truly making
improvements or taking twenty steps backwards!!
We wonder whether there is progress or regress. It is easy for the scoreboard in our soul to
tally and keep track of all the bad news, because that is what we hear
constantly. We have trained ourselves,
our Spidey senses, to pick up and hold onto what is wrong rather than
the good and right and God’s movement today.
Our hopes and humors have frayed in many ways, especially after the
pandemic and ways we feel afraid of each other.
Yet, the hymn
reminds us, God isn’t finished yet.
I am reminded of a great quote from C.S. Lewis’ book, Surprised by
Joy. He writes:
All Joy reminds.
It is never a possession, always a desire for something long ago or further
away or still 'about to be'.’
Notice how joy is
not something we hold, it is something we are held by. We cannot compel or control joy, we are
caught up in the One who is joy at the center of Being. God is hope, peace, love, and joy. We are made in God’s image…called to let
these qualities be cultivated in our lives.
How do we do this,
Lewis instructs us,
Shut your mouth;
open your eyes and ears. Take in what is there and give no thought to what
might have been there or what is somewhere else. That can come later, if it
must come at all.
In other words, be
present to your life…it is the ordinary moments is how God shows up and
surprises us each and every day. Be open
and curious around how this can be true for you this day and week. Amen
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