Thresholds

 

Happy New Years Eve!!  Insert confetti flying here.  My soul returns to the great line from O Little Town of Bethlehem, “The hopes and fears of the all the years are met in thee tonight.”  Hopes for 2025.  Fears for 2025.  Certainties and conflicts and confusion and exhaustion and elation and…and…and that which we cannot even name because it sits so far back in the cobwebbed corners of our hearts and souls we don’t even see or hear it.  So here is another blessing for the New Year from Jan Richardson:

 

Blessing the Threshold

This blessing has been waiting for you for a long time.

While you have been making your way here,

this blessing has been gathering itself, making ready, biding its time, praying.

This blessing has been polishing the door, oiling the hinges, sweeping the steps, lighting candles in the windows.

This blessing has been setting the table as it hums a tune from an old song it knows, something about a spiraling road and bread and grace.

All this time it has kept an eye on the horizon,

watching,

keeping vigil,

hardly aware of how it was leaning itself in your direction.

And now that you are here, this blessing can hardly believe its good fortune

that you have finally arrived, that it can drop everything at last to fling its arms wide to you, crying

welcome,

welcome,

welcome!!

 

May the blessing of God’s belovedness enfold and hold you this day and as we enter a New Year at midnight tonight.  Amen.

New Year's Eve Eve

 

How are you doing today?  Honestly?!  Is your mind racing like a hamster on a wheel?  Do you feel dizzy/disoriented from too much Christmas cheer?  Or are you just ready to check out and binge watch Netflix?  Is your heart full or running on empty or on the sugar high of too many Christmas cookies?  Is your soul soaring or sagging?  Or perhaps you just don’t know.  Perhaps the hustle and bustle of December/this past year with its storms environmentally and politically have left you a bit run down, weary and worn out.  Yes, a few days ago my soul felt its worth on Christmas Eve, but now??  As I prepare to step out of the straw of the stable where we stood in awe gazing at the manger, something within me stirs.  As you prepare to step back into the crowded streets of life as a New Year is about to dawn, where are you?  Physically?  Emotionally?  Spiritually?  Relationally?  Take time this week to listen to your own life sing what it is singing these days.  As you do, hear this blessing from Kate Bowler:

 

a blessing for not your best self

God, I can’t tell which person I will be today:

kind and loving, turn-the-other-cheek and I’ll-be-right-here, soft but strong.

I will keep no record of wrongs.

 

I might be someone else entirely: brittle and judgmental, I’m-taking-my-share and you-deal-with-it-alone, hard but weak. I will keep every record, dammit.

 

I am an accountant in this world that does not give me what I’m owed.

 

God, these multiple selves, you know (of course you know) are parts of a whole.

 

You send the love I have to give.

You grieve the pain that causes me to withhold.

You send your spirit every day not to stitch us back together but to heal every tender part from the inside out.

 

So, in the meantime, bless this generous self,

bless this breakable self,

bless these many parts and make them whole.

 

May God bless the broken, beautiful, less-than-perfect, polish self that is you today and, in the days, to come.  Amen. 

God help me choose joy today

 

Joy does not simply happen to us.  We have to choose joy and keep choosing joy every day.  It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God and have found in God our refuge and our safety and that nothing, not even death, can take away the hope/peace/love/joy and presence of God. ~ Henri Nouwen

 

God help me choose joy today.  Not as some denial of the brokenness and bruises of the world, but as a rebellion against bitterness and judgement.  God help me choose joy today.  Not as sticking my head in the sand, but as a deeper truth that You are not finished yet.  You are born anew and afresh in my life, and this can make all the difference, make me different, form and fashion me into one who lives the lights of hope, peace, love, and joy in a world desperately in need of this ~ even though we will never admit and may even refuse to accept this.  God let Your joy be born in me, reside in me, be felt and shared through me.  Let Your wisdom have the first, middle, and last word, not just today or until we put the tree away, but every day in the coming year.  God grant me wisdom, courage, and faith to live the good news of great joy that is Your presence in this world now and always.  Amen.  

Joy for Today

 

Joy, in its truest sense, is quiet and unassuming.  It comes not in grand gestures, but in the simple act of opening our hearts to God’s presence. Brother Lawrence

 

On the day after Christmas, when bits of wrapping paper and tape are stuck to your carpet.  On the day after Christmas, when leftovers are on the menu.  On the day after Christmas, when the mystery and marvel you felt the last few days are chipped away by the headline and posts on social media.  On the day after Christmas, when the anticipation and adrenaline you’ve been running on suddenly vanishes and fades.  Rest.  Rest in the presence of God who is there, not only in the spectacular and special, but in the quiet of this day.  Rest in God’s presence who doesn’t need you to always be striving and hustling and pushing yourself.  Rest in a holy who is there in the beautiful ordinary of washing dishes and gazing at the tree as you notice again the ornament your grandmother gave you.  Rest in the sacred who is present in this day after Christmas.  And may the truth that you are beloved, not because of what you do or have accomplished or achieved or anything on your resume.  You are beloved is the foundation that forms us into God’s image.  Rest in the messy manger moments that don’t need to be tidied up.  And in the stillness may you discover a joy that comes as God’s gift to each of us this day and promises to stay with us every day into the New Year.  With God’s hope, peace, love, and joy as the deepest truths to our lives ~ Amen.

A Christmas Blessing

 

But the angel said to them (and you and me and we today), “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people”  Luke 2:10

 

A Blessing from Kate Bowler’s book The Lives We Actually Have

 

God, this is a kind of magic

the way this day shines so strangely,

how it sparkles beyond our understanding.

(Yes, it was a disaster

the way the food turned out this year

and how what’s-her-face said ~ even though I told her not to ~

What shouldn’t be repeated. Again this year.)

But, somehow, this day never fails to awaken a longing

to love well—or at least better—

all those here with us, and those far away,

and to remember with gratitude

those now gone, gone, gone and missed.

What is this mystery?

Our God who set the world spinning

should come down for this one reason:

to love us into a newness.

Not for gain, nor our capitalist fantasies,

but the hope that freely, lavishly,

that we might learn to see, feel, and live Christ’s love.

Thank you.

In the name of Christ the Giver and the Gift.

Joy as a beautiful rebellion

 

Joy is a quiet rebellion against despair.  Cole Arthur Riley

 

Most days, it is easy today to discount and delay joy.  We distance ourselves from experiencing joy because we believe (or our inner critic tells us) that we don’t deserve joy.  Or maybe we rationalize and reason that I can’t feel joy when there is so much suffering and struggle in the world.  Unfortunately, cynicism and constant criticism and blaming and shaming are more normal ~ which is to say accepted ~ than offering joy.  This is why I love Cole Arthur Riley’s quote about joy being a quiet (and sometimes NOT so quiet as in the case of belting out Christmas Carols tonight in church) form of rebellion.  If you have not heard of Riley’s amazing work, she is the creator and curator of Black Liturgies and The Center for Dignity and Contemplation, she integrates spirituality with Black culture.  When Riley talks about joy being a form of rebellion, she does that from a social location that is marginalized and too often silenced.  But Riley continues to share her faith, passion, presence, and joy with others in courageous and contagious ways.  Which I believe is what Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the Wise Ones, and everyone (including you) who have ever heard the Christmas story is called to do.

 

How is tonight a form of quiet rebellion?  God enters the world amid the hustle and bustle, amid people rushing and racing, amid people who were not paying attention to a star of wonder that shone brightly.  And I am not just talking about two thousand years ago, God enters our world every day.  Not in splash and spectacular ways…not in ways that constantly send goosebumps down your spine…not through fame or fortunate or more followers on social media. God sneaks into the back door of our cluttered soul, shoves aside some of the emotional boxes you have shoved/stored there and sits down.  God shows up in the eyes of the people you encounter, even those who push all your buttons.  God enters again and again and again because Christmas is not just one day, but every day.  The truth of Emmanuel ~ God with us, with of all, forever.  I pray tonight you sense a joy that the world didn’t give to you but is a gift from God.  I pray you will join in worshiping and singing and sharing a truth that makes all the difference ~ makes each of us different to live in the days and years to come.  Tonight, may your soul feel its fullest worth; and may we rejoice with gusto.  O come all ye faithful to the little town of Bethlehem to see the One with eternity dancing in eyes laid away in a manger.

Joy need not be rare

 

Joy is the rarest and most infallible sign of the presence of God.  Leon Bloy

 

Anticipation grows on this Christmas Eve Eve.  As our inner-eight-year-old gazes at the presents under the tree with excitement building.  Yesterday, we lit the candle of joy.  You heard some of the places our leadership were surprised by joy this last year.  Where have you tasted, heard, experienced and encountered joy in December?   I hope you will make a list.

 

I tasted joy in Christmas cookies and ordinary bowls of soup that warmed my stomach/soul on chilly Florida days (which is anything below 60 degrees for my northern friends).  I tasted joy in the morning bowls of cereal after a walk.  I tasted joy in peanut butter sandwiches with a side of carrots.  I tasted joy in potlucks and in cups of coffee with friends. 

 

I heard joy in singing Christmas carols with gusto on Sundays and in silent nights staring at the twinkling lights on our tree.  I heard joy in the sound of my college-aged kids’ voices when they came in the door for Christmas break.  I heard joy in the words of love shared with my wife.  I heard joy in conversations in our church. 

 

I experienced joy looking at Christmas lights while listening to the Piano Guys music.  I experienced joy in holding my wife’s hand.  I experienced joy in wrapping presents for my family.  I experienced joy afternoon naps.  I experienced joy in reading books.  I experienced joy in being out in creation.

 

I encountered joy in the warm handshakes and hugs of family and friends and you at the back door of the church.  I encountered joy in Bible Studies and faithful conversations.  I encountered joy in car trips and putting together Lego sets (including the Notre Dame cathedral set!). 

 

In some way, I agree with Bloy’s quote above, that joy is rare ~ but maybe that is because I have not trained my eye to spy all the ways God is moving.  God can be subversive and subtle with weaving a thread of joy into my life.  I get caught up in the brokenness and trying to fix/save everything ~ which is to say everyone ~ even though that is not in my job description.  I am called to show up.  I am called to witness to a love that never lets us go and sees all as created in God’s image.  I am called to sing a song that draws the circle wide.  And in those moments, even when it is hard, there is a holy joy that is the infallible sign, God is here.  May joy be infused and inspired as the seconds tick closer to Christmas.  Amen.

Searching for and Seeking out

 

Love is continually searching for and seeking out the sacred, which is where we find our hope and peace and joy.  In some way, maybe we should light the candle of love first, because this is both our beginning and ending.  You are born beloved, called to shine/share your belovedness, and the last words God says as you breathe your last is, “You are my beloved!”  How to live this way is less about some easy to follow, step-by-step system I could sell you, and more about mystery and mistakes and miscues and moments we want a rewind button to take back what we said, and marvel and so much more.  Love is where we reside, rest because that is where we discover God again and again.  So pray with me these beautiful words by Ann Weems.

 

In Search of Our Kneeling Places by Ann Weems

In each heart lies a Bethlehem,
an inn where we must ultimately answer
whether there is room or not.
When we are Bethlehem-bound
we experience our own advent in his.
When we are Bethlehem-bound
we can no longer look the other way
conveniently not seeing stars
not hearing angel voices.
We can no longer excuse ourselves by busily
tending our sheep or our kingdoms.

This Advent let’s go to Bethlehem
and see this thing that the Lord has made known to us.
In the midst of shopping sprees
let’s ponder in our hearts the Gift of Gifts.
Through the tinsel
let’s look for the gold of the Christmas star.
In the excitement and confusion, in the merry chaos,
let’s listen for the brush of angels’ wings.
This Advent, let’s go to Bethlehem
and find our kneeling places.

Love Loves

 

Love has no awareness of merit or demerit; it has no scale…love loves; this is its nature.  Howard Thurman

 

Love is not an abstraction but a concrete reality.  James Cone

 

Love is not an accounting system, or balance sheet, or a linear, logical puzzle ~ love lives organically.  And like any organism, love is impacted and influenced by what is around us as well as the chemical reactions within us.  Love struggles in the face of hatred and hurt and heartbreak.  Love thrives in moments of laughter and tears shed while someone is holding your hand.  Love doesn’t need to be dissected but is dynamically delivered through the beautifully imperfect vessel of you.  You are, God says, “Beloved”.  This is your name, identity, calling, and blessing to live from.  I know there are so many other voices that want to contradict this or debate this or tell you it is all foolishness. 

 

And you, beloved, need not conform or contort to others.  Let your words, presence, and prayers be rooted in the reality of love.  Let go of earning and deserving, which God never said would bring love, for the reckless and radical love of One in whose image we are continually crafted.

 

May God’s love be heard in the song of your life.  May God’s love be tasted in the food you share with others.  May God’s love be felt in your life to flow through you this day.  Amen.

Love is a Verb

 

This Advent, love is not passive.  It is a verb, a force that requires us to reach out, to serve, and to care for others.  Henri Nouwen

Love is our true destiny (identity).  We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find meaning with another.  We find meaning in sharing love with those around us. Thomas Merton

 

Both Nouwen and Merton invite us to move beyond cognitive comprehension of love to embodied expression.  Love is not hypothetical or theoretical; something to be studied so we can “pass” some test or earn some merit badge on our heavenly sash.  Love is lived in life with others and with all God’s creation.  Love is relational ~ with God, others, and yourself.

 

How do you love another person, is a question we all ponder. 

 

We tell the story of God’s love unable to be confined and contained, broke out of some heaven light years away to show us heaven here on earth ~ in a time of terror and oppression and fear of the Roman Empire.  God burst and broke into the world through the back door of a barn, so why would we look for love in only the perfectly polished and posh palaces of temples and politics today?  God’s love is subversive and subtle, not screaming and shouting trying to get us to buy into a system for $19.95. 

 

And how you express love is different and beautifully diverse from how I will.  And we are called to find ways to share this with each other.  So here is a blessing by Kate Bowler for the messy, imperfect, human-sized way of love:

 

O God, we are waiting,
we are longing for You,
o Lord of Love.

Jesus come. God have mercy. Christ have mercy. Spirit have mercy.

“and john said, ‘are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” Matthew 11:3

God have mercy. Christ have mercy. Spirit have mercy.

“God reached down from on high and took hold of me; God drew me out of deep waters.” psalm 18:16

God have mercy. Christ have mercy. Spirit have mercy.

Blessed are we who look to You o Christ and wait for the fulfillment of that love which is higher, deeper, fuller than anything we have ever known.

Blessed are we in our incompleteness, this place where we are overwhelmed who hear you saying, I come! despite all, I come bringing true life and health and healing and love that never ends.

Blessed are we who see You, o Saviour the light that dawned so long ago in that dark stable, shining in the perfection of love given, love received, enfolding us into the heart of Your beauty
and glory and bliss.

Blessed are we, looking into Your face, into the gaze of the beloved, the One who knows us best of all, and calls us God’s very own. God have mercy. Christ have mercy. Spirit have mercy.  Receive this, your inheritance: love has come for you. “I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10.  Amen.

When I say I am a Christian...

 

Let us pray that we shall be able to welcome Jesus at Christmastime not in the cold manger of our hearts, but in a heart full of love and humility, a heart warm with love for one another.  Mother Teresa.

 

I love the image of not just receiving God, who is born in a manger, but every person we encounter.  This sounds so good on paper (or your computer screen), but is difficult/demanding to live in these days.  Love is a great theory or ideal for people we agree and whose affection affirms us, but for those people who push our buttons?  Not so much!  Who lives life with such radical love anyway?  Okay, Jesus, but who else?  Too often we put people like Mother Teresa, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ghandi, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, leaders who we admire on a pedestal and convince ourselves we could never live the way they did!  We turn humans into superheroes and super-she-heroes of faith that we admire as they glimmer behind the protective plexiglass of our belief that they are holier than we could ever be.  But, Mother Teresa was honest about her doubts and even anger at God.  Dr. King had moments of fear in the face of hatred that threatened his life and wasn’t sure he could keep on keeping on.  Maya Angelou famously said she was surprised when people would say to her, they were a Christian and would think, “Already?”  Christianity is not an identity we put on like a protective suit of armor, Christianity is a way of life ~ a process where there is no finish line.  Christianity is a commitment to letting hope, peace, joy, and love author our stories and be embodied in our hearts.  Christianity is not a philosophy to study, but a covenant we live with God every day.  Christianity shapes us, even as the world’s gospels seek to sink their demands and decrees into our hearts.  They will, as the Spiritual sings to our souls, know we are Christians (followers of the Way of Jesus) by our love.

 

Here is a beautiful poem/prayer by Maya Angelou

 

When I say…”I am a Christian.”
I’m not shouting, “I’m clean living.”
I’m whispering, “I was lost,
Now I’m found and forgiven.”

 

When I say…”I am a Christian.”
I don’t speak of this with pride.
I’m confessing that I stumble
And need Christ to be my guide.

 

When I say…”I am a Christian.”
I’m not trying to be strong.
I’m professing that I’m weak
And need his strength to carry on.

 

When I say…”I am a Christian.”
I’m not bragging of success.
I’m admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.

 

When I say…”I am a Christian.”
I’m not claiming to be perfect.
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.

 

When I say…”I am a Christian.”
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

 

When I say…”I am a Christian.”
I’m not holier than thou.
I’m just a simple sinner
Who received God’s grace somehow.

 

May the unceasing grace and unconditional (which is to say unearned) love of God light your way this day. 

The Candle of God's Liberating Love

 

Throughout the pages of scripture, love is like a thread woven into the quilt of the thin pages and through the words we read.  Paul talks about faith, hope, and love abiding…and the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13); on the last night of Jesus’ life he said, “this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12); Jesus called us to love our enemies in the gospels, which stretches us beyond our own abilities or even desire to live that way.  We lit the candle of God’s liberating love yesterday to illuminate our way to Bethlehem where we encounter and experience God’s love in the flesh and form of a vulnerably baby laid in a manger.  This sacred space preaches a gospel that the world doesn’t comprehend and cannot control, so we often turn from the truth of Christmas to ones of consumerism, rating/ranking, posturing, posting endlessly to social media, power, and politics. 

 

I invite you to light a candle now.  As you gaze at the flickering flame you could extinguish at any time ask yourself:

 

When did you feel most fully loved last week?  Last month?  Last year?

Who shared unconditional love with you?

Where do you feel the warmth of love in others and for others? 

Or are you struggling, especially with that person who is always pushing the nuclear codes of your emotional wellbeing?

 

One more question for you to carry in your heart, mind, and life today ~ how do you define and distinguish love?  What words or actions or experiences/encounters help you describe how love looks/sounds/tastes/feels?  I pray the candle of love will burn brightly within and around you every day this week.  With God’s embodied and emphatic and enthusiastic love to you!  Amen.

Prayer

 

What are you holding onto this morning from this past week (or even past year)?  Where do you feel the tension in your body?  Maybe in your shoulders or your mind spinning like a hamster on a wheel or in your gut that is doing summersaults.  What thoughts are stirring and swirling within you this week?  What storms came out of nowhere in the last few days?  Where did you find peace and where was shalom (integration of head, heart, soul, body and community) elusive or felt like you were nailing Jello to the wall (which why would anyone do that to perfectly good Jello?!?).  So, for you my beloved, a blessing:

 

God of journeys that we know like the back of our hand to the stable, but this year (and every year) is different, meet us in the messy manger moments of our one wild and precious life.  God of moments when we can breathe, center us.  

God of long lists of where we long for peace/reconciliation/repair/renewal of our lives, help us continue to offer You the people and places and parts of ourselves that need Your healing shalom. 

God, we don’t always know what we are waiting for…or our thoughts can be jumbled, or we worry that if we start listing all that is within us we will look greedy. 

Help us be honest, open, willing to You, O God. 

Knitting Seamstress God, You continue to weave us into a garment with all Your creation, yet there are threads that threaten to be snag and unravel the whole sweater.  Continue to repair and renew us, we pray.  God of silence, Shalom, storms that all mix and mingle together that is the recipe card of life, go before us, beside us, behind us, and befriend us this day.  May the hope and peace of Advent burn brightly guiding our way and be lit anew in our hearts for every day in 2025.  In the name of the One who is Your love in the flesh, Jesus the Christ. Amen.  Blessed are you, Pilgrim People, as we trudge toward Bethlehem this year.    

Peace...when there is no peace

 

This week we are exploring and experimenting with shalom, peace, and how this sacred encounter shows up disguised as our life in the journey to Bethlehem this year.  Yesterday, I offered words from the author Madeleine L’Engle on silence and letting the Word pray within you.  What happens if peace feels as far away as Pluto?  What if this week you have been fraught with anxiety or anger, what if you have fought with fear and frustration, what if your life resembles a home that has been broken into by forces beyond your control?  Your life may feel like something that is broken beyond repair and the furniture of your life is turned upside down and your skin keeps crawling with aches within.  Maybe what you long for and are waiting for is this storm of life to pass.  Maybe what you are praying for is your cancer to be cured.  Or maybe you are waiting for a relationship to be restored, even though the other person has blocked you on social media.  Or for the leaders of this world to be adults rather than bickering like children on a playground.  Or for the church to be the church to speak up.  So where does that leave peace when everything isn’t perfect or polished?  Isn’t peace supposed to glisten and glow, make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside?  Maybe…but maybe not.  Peace is about integration, letting our head, heart, soul, body, words, and presence be in alignment with God (not just with our own plotting and planning).  Peace is being enfolded in the crucible of God’s embrace, which sometimes feels like a boat slowly going down stream and at other times can feel like white water rafting.  For my beloved reading this who don’t feel peace, who think all this sounds too much like positive psychology, or Pollyanna, let me share the words of Jan Richardson who writes:

 

Blessing in the Storm

I cannot claim to still the storm that has seized you,
cannot calm the waves that wash through your soul,
that break against your fierce and aching heart.

But I will wade into these waters,
will stand with you in this storm,
will say peace to you in the waves,
peace to you in the winds,
peace to you in every moment
that finds you still within the storm.

May Jesus speak and sing to the storms within us and around us offering shalom each second, a sacred presence and reminder that we are not along.  Amen.

Prayer

 

One of my favorite poets/writers is Madeleine L’Engle. She writes is profound and powerful words:

 

I, who live by words, am wordless when
I try my words in prayer. All language turns
To silence. Prayer will take my words and then
Reveal their emptiness. The stilled voice learns
To hold its peace, to listen with the heart
To silence that is joy, is adoration.
The self is shattered, all words torn apart
In this strange patterned time of contemplation
That, in time, breaks time, breaks word, breaks me,
And then, in silence, leaves me healed and mended.
I leave, returned to language, for I see
Through words, even when all words are ended.
I, who live by words, am wordless when
I turn me to the Word to pray. Amen.

 

I invite you to read the words above several times.  Take the words with you as you venture out.  Read them again over lunch.  Let them dance in your heart during your afternoon nap.  Hold them at the dinner table.  Read them before you lay your head down to sleep and pray to the Lord your soul to keep.  May you sense God’s shalom in each syllable and image and invitation above.  Amen.

Shalom

 

Yesterday, we held and prayed the question, what are you waiting for?  I hope you wrote a few notes in response to that question.  Today, I invite you to put on soft music (maybe an instrumental version of Christmas Carols) and continue to hold the question of what you are waiting for.  I invite you to light one candle of peace.  The word for peace in Hebrew is shalom and it is more than an absence of violence.  Shalom is about feeling connected from the top of your head to your pinkie toe and connected to all of God’s creation.  As Dr. King once said, “All (that was, is, and will ever be) is caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be...”  Shalom is about interconnectedness and integrity and indivisibility.  Shalom can be fleeting and fragile.  Shalom is what is what we seek to soak in on the Sabbath (which is more than a day of the week ~ Sabbath is a state of the soul to rest in God not trying to hustle or bustle or strive or proof oneself worthy).  What am I waiting for?  Shalom/peace/resting in God’s presence is one response in my heart this week.  And this isn’t just found at the end of the journey in Bethlehem, but along the pathway as well.  When you sit in silence, may God’s sacred shalom surround you.  When you ponder God’s love, may God’s sacred shalom surround you.  When you venture out to the store, may God’s sacred shalom go before you.  When you visit a friend who is hurting or are honest about your own aches, may God’s sacred shalom befriend you.  When you lay down, may God’s sacred shalom be with you every second today.  Shalom, my friend, shalom.  Amen.

Peace Part 1

 

Last week we set out (once again) for Bethlehem, to trudge the familiar roads that lead to a draft, dirty, dingy stable where God makes a grand and glorious entrance that is so counter- cultural…so subversive to the gospels we consume of wealth and winning and being warriors for causes.  A scant nine days into the journey, sixteen days left until we arrive, it is that point when our inner-five-year-old from the back seat of our souls asks, “Are we there yet?”  We live in a culture that constantly craves bigger, faster ~ we want to microwave everything, and we disdain patience as being weak.  Hasn’t God built an interstate highway to Bethlehem yet?  Where is the highspeed rail that will get us there quicker so we can grab a selfie next to the baby Jesus, post to Instagram, and book an Air B&B where we can sip eggnog with the hashtag, “Blessed”?  The pace of Advent is annoyingly slow.  The word associated with Advent, “waiting” sends frustration down our spin and starts pulsing in that tiny vein in your neck.

 

What are you waiting for?

 

I love that question, because the emphasis can be on each of the five words.  What, can send us on a journey of inquiring about our deepest desires.  We have many Christmas lists in our souls, most of which have nothing to do with what you can purchase prepackaged on the shelves of stores.  What do you long for spiritually, relationally, emotionally, physically, communally, in our country, for our church, in the world?  You could make a list for each of the areas which might help you start to explore the first word of the above question points toward.  Are, is a word that reminds us of our agency.  Waiting is not passive.  Waiting is not standing on the sidelines impatiently tapping your toe while you scroll your phone and let out loud sighs.  Are is about your agency.  Or as Viktor Frankl says, “Between stimulus and response there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Are is the pregnant pause of the present moment ~ opening you to how you show up, speak up, part-take in this journey to Bethlehem this year.  You points to the fact that there is something growing in you.  You, like Mary, are pregnant with possibility.  You are making this journey to the stable.  To be sure, we are never alone.  There are parts of the journey this year that are universal and unique.  What is stirring in you?  Waiting and for play together and help wrap up and wind down the question that guides us to the One who comes in the form a vulnerable baby (see Morning Meditations from the week of November 25). 

 

What if one of the reasons why we don’t like to wait is that it exposes all our vulnerabilities and inadequacies and inabilities and uncontrollability of life?  Waiting exposes that we both have some control in certain circumstances and at the same time can’t instantly make everything better.

 

Hold this question, explore this question, turn in the light of God’s love to let it reflect to you a rainbow of expressions.  May God show up as you, like Mary, prayerfully ponder this today. Amen.