Readings: Micah 5:2-5a; Luke 1:46b-55; Hebrews 10:5-10
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy…
Luke 1:51-54, NRSV
Offered by Colin Fredrickson, artist, college student, child of God. This image was originally posted for Advent, 2015, and created when Colin was a high school student.
Readings: Psalm 80:1-7; Isaiah 66:7-11; Luke 13:31-35
Before she was in labor she gave birth;
before her pain came upon her she delivered a son.
Who has heard of such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
Shall a nation be delivered in one moment?
Yet as soon as Zion was in labor she delivered her children.
Shall I open the womb and not deliver? says the Lord;
shall I, the one who delivers, shut the womb? says your God.
Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her;
rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her –
that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast;
that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious bosom.
Isaiah 66:7-11 NRSV
New life doesn’t survive on its own very long: a mother’s milk nourishes the newborn body, a mother’s and father’s loving gaze and comforting embrace nourish the heart, mind, and soul. Without this love and devotion, new life withers and does not grow.
Sometimes I forget that the same is true of the life-giving spark that is born in the soul, the image-of-God in everyone. That spark is nurtured by the people we love and the faith traditions that sustain them. I am in debt to every person who embraced my spiritual growth and fostered it.
Sometimes, I forget that faiths are also born – gifts of the loving God who created everything and sustains every breath. My own faith of manger and cross was born to the faithful children of Yahweh. It is the faith of Israel, the heritage of Abraham and Sarah, Deborah, Jacob, Mary, and Joseph that embraced and fed it. I am an ungrateful and unwise child, indeed, if I don’t see in this a mother’s love and the steadying hand of God.
Nat King Cole, Christmas for Kids from One to Ninety-two, (recorded at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA), compilation [Hollywood, CA: Capitol Records, 2000]
But you recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. Hebrews 10: 32-33 NRSV
Friends of mine spent some days traveling Scotland by train. On a three hour stop in a small town, a grubby, smelly, homeless man greeted them. After a few minutes of conversation, my friends took the man to lunch with them at a local pub. For the hour they spent with him, they were very aware of the stares and the shaking heads – and of the pungent disruption they were causing at the restaurant. When they were done with lunch and back at the train station, the man held out his hand in thanks; reluctantly, they shook it, then boarded their train, glad to be on their way.
A gentleman who’d seen their leave-taking came over once the train left the station. “How did it feel to shake the hand of Jesus?” he asked.
For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your own possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting. Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward.Hebrews 10:34-35NRSV
Ten years ago, floodlights and sirens disturbed a snowy February night. A friend’s house, just a few hundred feet away from my own, went up in flames. Everything they owned went with it. A few days after the blaze, my friend remarked, “I thought I’d miss my things a lot more than I do. There’s a wonderful freedom to it. I hope I don’t forget this when the house is restored.”
The company we keep can give us a glimpse of God, if we keep our eyes open.
The possessions we lose can give us a glimpse of eternal happiness, if we keep our hearts open.
Simple Gifts, Liz Story, recorded at Prescott, AZ: Luna Recording Studio, 1996 The Carols of Christmas: A Windham Hill Collection, Windham Hill Records, 1996
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt – a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31:31-34NRSV
An unexpectedly large crowd showed up for the Parkway Orchestra’s holiday concert a couple weeks back, and my husband and I got the last program booklet. It was filled with the usual ads, musician names, and the order of music to be performed. It also had two pages of Christmas carol lyrics for the singalong. When it came time to sing, I let my husband keep the program – I’ve sung the songs so many times over the decades that I knew the words by heart. No need to look at a piece of paper for something written in my heart and mind.
I’ve spent just as many decades reading scripture and going to church as I have singing Jingle Bells and Good King Wenceslas. I’ve committed to memory prayers and creeds, theological points and counterpoints, and a good number of psalms. I’ve broken faith with most of the commandments at some point or other, if not in the literal sense at least within the confines of my heart and imagination – this, in spite of God’s faithfulness to me. So what needs to be written on my heart for me to live the holy life God offers to me every day? I can’t say in a definitive sense (I’ve yet to achieve anything close to transfiguration or deification), but here’s my definition-in-progress:
God loves me more than I will ever understand. No matter what happens, I am never lost to God. God loves you more than I will ever understand. No matter what happens, you are never lost to God. You and I will only find complete joy in each other’s company, in the embrace of God….and we are already there, we just haven’t learned it by heart yet.
If this law of love is written on my heart, there’s no one and nothing I won’t know as God’s own beloved. And my beloved, too.
Readings: Isaiah 11:1-9; Micah 4:8-13; Luke 7:31-35
“To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not weep.’
For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”Luke 7:31-35NRSV
If I want to find fault, to find a reason to dismiss someone as unacceptable, I will surely find a suitable fault. It may be unreasonable, it may be unfair, but it will serve its purpose. In this, I am no different from the people who criticized John and rejected Jesus. So I ask myself this Advent:
What faults will I find to justify rejecting God’s messengers? How will I justify turning a deaf ear to their words, a blind eye to their faces?
I don’t want to find fault where there is none. I don’t want to reject God-With-Us becausehe isn’t what I expected. I don’t want to be one of those people that Jesus is talking about.
I don’t want Jesus to say about me, “Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.”
The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth…
Isaiah 11: 2-4a NRSV
Gentle Savior,
My eyes only see what is around me, and my ears hear only what is close by. I cannot judge with righteousness, and my decisions are skewed by my own limitations. In my selfishness, I value my unnecessary wants over the true needs of others.
I will never see as you see, or understand as you understand. I ask your forgiveness, and for a heart so full of love that I will be a blessing for the poor and meek, lightening their load rather than adding to their burdens. Please. Amen.
Readings: Zephaniah 3:14-20; Isaiah 12:2-6; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18
Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7 NRSV
Jesus is coming: Look busy!
It was on a button a pastor I knew used to wear on the inside of his suit jacket, hidden to all but a few. He suspected that some people would take it as a serious commandment when worn by a priest – as if God were a taskmaster just hoping to catch us falling down on the job.
Paul’s approach is different: the Lord is near, so let your gentleness be known to everyone. The response to God drawing near is to be gentle with others and gentle with one’s own soul. Don’t worry about what’s been done or left undone (worry doesn’t change it, and it stops us from being happy in God’s presence). Don’t put on a brave face or false air of self-sufficiency; ask God for what you need, and ask it thankfully.
If you aren’t ashamed of your own gentleness, if you admit you aren’t self-sufficient, you are braver than most because you are leaving behind the facade of perfection (impossible to attain, anyway); if you lose the facade, you are wiser than most because you live in the world with honesty and acceptance. This world isn’t without its difficulties and you won’t be without challenges, but they lose the power to trouble your mind and harden your heart.
But you can’t be brave and wise on your own, and neither can I. For that reason, God guards our hearts and minds, keeping them open to love and grateful for whatever life brings. For reasons beyond our understanding, we can live in God’s peace. After all, God-With-Us did…
Dona Nobis Pacem. Grant Us Peace.
Richard Stoltzman, Dona Nobis Pacem; The Carols of Christmas: A Windham Hill Collection [recorded at Little Big Feat, Monroe, CT, 1996]
Readings: Isaiah 12:2-6; Amos 9:8-15; Luke 1:57-66
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. Isaiah 12:2
Over my recent sabbatical I decide that I wanted to try yoga on for size, so I signed up for a Sunday morning men’s class at a studio called the Ebb and Flow Wellness Center. It was a wonderful experience. As I walked in the door, I immediately experienced an abiding peace. The aroma of lavender was circulating through the air and I felt my body begin to let go of the stress of rushing to make it there on time. I paid my ten dollars and was led into the basement where the lights were dim and the music was soft and sweet. For over an hour we stretched and breathed. There was no judgment, no pressure; if I couldn’t do a pose, it was no problem, I would either do the best I could or just sit back and wait for the next pose. It felt good in that little cocoon, peaceful and relaxed. When the session was over, we all walked up out of the basement and back into the real world. As I left the Wellness Center I experienced the bright sun in my face, car horns honking, people milling around shouting at one another. It was even difficult to cross the road with the summer traffic, so I ran across the street to get to my car. Yes, I was back in the world again. After I got into my car to head home, I thought to myself, “life is really is made up of ebbs and flows.”
They say the earth is four and a half billion years old, give or take a half billion years, yet every day the ebbs and flows of the earth change the landscape and the seas forever. We don’t tend to notice it much because the changes are small and we are too preoccupied with what is going on in our own lives. We panic, we run away, we distract ourselves, we even make scapegoats of one another in order to cope with things beyond our control and at the same time, we search for and often discover moments of peace and meaning and beauty. These are the ebbs and flows of our lives, but they are not random or without purpose. All of life is contained in a reality that is too large to comprehend and yet as tangible as a piece of fruit dangling from a tree.
This reality becomes clear as you look over the story of the people of Israel. It is a reality that all of us will eventually succumb to. Elizabeth and Zechariah experienced it in a profound way as they pondered what would become of their son John and the meaning of his birth. Surely God is our salvation. Whether we choose to trust and not be afraid, well that may very well be subject to the ebbs of flows. Amen.
[Offered by Dave Fredrickson, pastor, spiritual director, seeker of the Christ child.]
“Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, ‘When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals…’
Amos 8:4-6a, NRSV
[Note: an Ephah is a measure of grain a little more than a bushel; a shekel is the coin paid for a measure of grain. By shrinking the ephah, the poor farmer isn’t credited with the full weight of the grain; by enlarging the shekel, the seller pays less for the grain, cheating the farmer of the full weight of grain and giving over fewer coins in payment for the already diminished return.]
The conservation of mass: in a closed system, mass cannot be created or destroyed. It’s one of the building blocks of chemistry, this truth that while reactions can transform the state and nature of the original elements, nothing can be gained or lost overall.
The poor walk away with less than the crop was worth, the rich with the exact amount more than what it was worth. The overage for the rich equals the deficit of the poor, and the laws which govern free trade and commerce remain unbroken.
Newton’s Third Law: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The wings that drive air downward cause the plane to move upward: lift.
The merchant’s illicit gain is equal to our farmer’s loss, lifting the merchant’s fortunes while driving the farmer down into poverty.
Law of Love: Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself. God, self, and neighbor always affect one another. One cannot be known fully in isolation from the other two.
Short-changing a poor neighbor to make a quick buck is the action of the spiritually blind. Only seeing the face of God in the face of a poor neighbor can cure such blindness. Perhaps that’s why God came as a poor neighbor: it was the only way to restore the fortunes and souls of the cheaters and the cheated.
Help me see your face, dear Jesus, in the face of my neighbor. Amen.
There are snakes, bees, and spiders living in my yard. I don’t see them very often, except when I am gardening. Then my thyme is humming, covered in bees, and there are webs connecting the butterfly bush to the daffodils. That green/brown on the stepping stone isn’t the stick I thought it was: it slithers off when my weeding hands are inches away. There’s a whole world of creatures living around me, and sometimes their unexpected presence startles me. If I move among the plants expecting to encounter nothing, their presence can be momentarily frightening. If the fight or flight instinct kicks in, I could injure them with flailing hands or crushing feet. My fear can harm these harmless neighbors who nurture my garden and enrich my life.
Knowing that God holds me fast gives me the chance to live in my own back yard with curiosity rather than in fear. I’m much less likely to harm the one who startles me because I won’t assume that I’m in danger. The beauty of spiderwebs, the buzzing of pollinators, and the stillness of the garden snake are gifts to treasure, not threats to eliminate.
If a life without fear can preserve the visitors in my garden, perhaps it can do the same beyond my hedge. I just might dare to see beauty and mystery in this great big world rather than imagining that everything means me harm. I just might see the world as God sees it: broken, beautiful, worthy of my love and sacrifice.
