The Word, and our Words

“Words spoken in deep love or deep hate set things in motion in the human heart that can never be reversed.”

— Frederick Buechner

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Sticks and stones may break my bones

But words can never hurt me

Wrong

Dead wrong

I have had too many people sit across from

Me

Depressed

Anxious

Struggling to make their way through life

Struggling to love and be loved

Who have been profoundly damaged by words

Words from parents (often)

Spouses

Friends

Pastors (too often)

You are worthless

I wish you had never been born

You will never make it in life

You are lazy

You are sinful

You

You

You

Words are powerful

We should understand this!

In the creation story God spoke

Let there be light

Let there be fertile land

Let there be fish, and animals, and birds

Let there be creatures in my image

And it was

At the beginning of John

We are reminded of the power of creative, loving Word

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

And we are told that God did not stop speaking at creation

We should have known that too

As God spoke through the words of poets and prophet

But we are told that once again God’s Word became

Tangible, real, concrete

In fact we are told “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”

Advent is a time when we prepare to hear the Word

Receive the Word

Be transformed by the Word

Advent is the time when we seek openness

So that we might receive that Word

So that it might dwell within in

So that it might, in the world of our sould

Create order out of chaos

Bring light into the Darkness

And make things, “good”

Christmas is when we celebrate that word

Breaking the silence

But remember

it is powerful this Word

It will not leave us the same

It will not leave us untouched

It will disturb and order

It will illuminate and reveal

As Isaiah reminds us

“so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

And one thing that needs to happen

Is that God’s Word needs to change our words

Those words we speak

When enraged or frightened

Those words we speak when we want to control and manipulate

Those words we speak when we want to minimize and diminish

May the words of our mouth be acceptable?

No lies

No words that bully and demean

No words that abuse

Or tear down

We need words that have the same impact

As the Word that came down at Christmas

Words speak the truth

But do so in love

Words that lift up

Words that challenge, but also heal

Words that move us help make it on earth as it is in heaven

Rather than words that make the earth a living hell

So this Advent

Let us think about Words

About God’s Word

About The Word

About the words of those we follow and listen to

About the words that come out of our mouths

For words are powerful

“And words spoken in deep love or deep hate

set things in motion in the human heart that can never be reversed.”

Sitting in the dark

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

― Plato

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I woke up this morning in the dark

and it will be hours

before the first feeble light tries to

break through clouds

that wrapped the trees in

shade of gray

I woke up this morning in the dark

not the darkness of a winter’s mourn

but in that dark night of the soul

which comes when those in power

who should be protecting the vulnerable

and maintaining justice

and promoting good

don’t

when caught up in greed

and a blind lust for power

they abandon the vulnerable

promote injustice

and enable evil

I woke up this morning

In the darkness that comes

When the powerful practice evil

In plain sight

And millions cheer them on

Not caring that immigrant children are in cages

And black youth live in fear of death

And the poor are having he very things they need to flourish

Threatened

So that the rich can get richer

The words of the prophets echo in my head

Feeling fresh and new

And devastatingly relevant 

Alas for those who devise wickedness

    and evil deeds[a] on their beds!

When the morning dawns, they perform it,

    because it is in their power.

They covet fields, and seize them;

    houses, and take them away;

they oppress householder and house,

    people and their inheritance.

Therefore thus says the Lord:

Now, I am devising against this family an evil

    from which you cannot remove your necks;

and you shall not walk haughtily,

    for it will be an evil time.

I woke up this morning

Profoundly aware that we need a savior

We need Christmas

It is not that the Advent has not already happened

It is not that the Savior has not come

And shown us the way, the truth and the life

We have been shown how to do life a different way

And we have been given the power to do it…

But

But

Even those that claim this savior

Have gotten caught up in the old way

And have abandoned the heart of Jesus teachings

John made it profoundly clear

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

So we need a Savior

Or rather we need the Savior who has already come

We need to turn to this one who came

And who still comes in the person of the Spirit

And we need to let the light shine

Shine in our hearts so intensely

That we can see, what is evil, and what is good

So that we will not be confused or deluded anymore

So That we can feel, the pain of the poor and the lonely

So that we can live lives of kindness, and generosity, and love

We need to let the light dispel the darkness

This Advent our hearts must cry out

O come, O come, Immanuel,

and ransom [these] captive [hearts]

For we mourns in lonely exile here

Here in the darkness

Come Savior of the world

Shine in the darkness

Thank you, in your tender mercy

You, in Jesus have, like the rising sun

come to us from heaven

to shine on those living in darkness

    and in the shadow of death,

and to guide our feet into the path of peace. (Song of Zechariah, Luke 1)

perpetual incarnation

“You are a little soul carrying about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.”

― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Never tell a child,” said George Macdonald, ‘you have a soul. Teach him, you are a soul; you have a body.’ As we learn to think of things always in this order, that the body is but the temporary clothing of the soul….”

When he told of how he took his wheelchair-bound teenage son Tony, dying of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, to the river to go fishing, the entire room would hang on every word (no matter how many times we had heard the story). Completely bereft as he watched Tony painfully work to get his line in the water, Pepe began to cry. “Dad,” Tony said, “Why are you crying? There’s nothing wrong with me. It’s just my Earth suit that is having trouble. Nothing is wrong with me.”

                                                              Ron H quoted by Richard Rohr

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each day

whether I like it or not

(and sometimes as a true introvert I like it not)

The Sacred drops people into my path

I have long since abandoned the idea

that these are chance encounters

although I sometimes think that Sacred has

a warped sense of humor

but there they are

needy people

angry people

people who embrace a leader I abhor

hurting people

lonely people

addicted people

strong people

insightful people

there they are

God carriers

Precious souls

Sacred children in their “earth suit’

If only we would see

Every Advent we celebrate God adventing

Jesus

God with us

Light in the darkness

The Sacred in an earth suit

Showing us what God is like

Showing us a new way of doing life

We sing of angels and shepherds

And of magi, keeping it weird

As they travel from the east

We talk about Mary and Joseph

and the baby

Ah the baby

The Sacred temporarily clothed

In human flesh

And then we go through our days

And fail to recognize

the perpetual incarnation

We fail to see that Jesus is still here

still God with us

still incarnate

we fail to see that Jesus is present

in the manger of every heart

we fail to remember that each person is a precious soul

each person is, in some mysterious way Jesus (Matthew 25)

each person is part of this ongoing incarnation

that Jesus made possible

it is of course not a simple matter

it never was

when Jesus came

even though Scripture foretold

and stars pointed the way

and angels choirs sang

a pitiful few gathered at the cradle

we do not always understand

we do not always see

we are not always awake to the good news

we do not see the Christ in others

we do not see the Christ in ourselves

but that does not change the reality

Advent happened

Advent happens still

Incarnation is

God is born in the manger of our hearts

God is incarnate within this common flesh

Carrying out that ministry of Love

Transforming us from the inside out

Making us new

God is in us, the hope of glory

And God is in each person we meet

And that changes everything