Vulnerability Part 4

 

On this Thanksgiving Day, when we count our blessings, I offer you these words from Leonard Cohen’s beautiful poem that goes

 

Ring the bells that still can ring.

Forget your perfect offering.

There is a crack in everything.

That’s how the light gets in.

 

The light of God’s love comes not through the perfectly polished, shining halos, the heavenly sashes with merit badges earned for all our time volunteering and trying to help others, the endless meetings, the running and racing.  God’s love is unconditional, which is to say, unearned.  This sits in tension with my Iowa grandmother who said, “There is no such thing as a free lunch”.  We must earn our keep.  We talk of deserving time off rather than sabbath resistance of rest that is a holy rhythm God established in the beginning for God’s self and for us.  We talk of strength and overcoming obstacles and pain is just weakness leaving the body, we push ourselves and judge others who don’t measure up.  We are caught in a world of grading and employee evaluations and feedback sandwiches (where your boss would say something nice and then something bad and then something nice again ~ confusing you). 

 

What cracks are there in your life?

In your family and friends?

In the system and structures around us? (It is usually easiest to name these because there are many cynical voices out there that feed us the bad news every day).

 

As we prepare to stand in the straw, kneel next to the manger, stare into the face of God as vulnerable infant who reflects to us the truthiest truth of our humanness, what will we be able to see and sense and stir within us? 

May the light of God stream through our vulnerabilities and insatiable desire to hide from the beautiful brokenness of our life.  Amen.