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Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Sunday, November 27, 2022

Adventing

Today I am adventing

I want to be Christmasing

 

And I am not

I am not immersed in Christmas

Where miracles happen

And love wins

 

It matters not how many Christmas movies are seen

Or carols sung

 

We are not to Christmas yet

The days are short, the nights so long

Gray clouds press to the grounds

And the air is heavy with the frozen tears of God

 

Covid still rages

Malignant powers still oppress

Liars still lie

The wealthy still grasp and hoard

 

No, I am not Christmasing

I am adventing

I am walking in that dark impatient time

Where resolution is yet to come

 

My soul resonates with Longfellow

Who, beloved wife burned to death,

Beloved son wounded by war,

Country divided,

 

Bowed his head in momentary despair.

 

And I too cry

"There is no peace on earth,

For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

 

Not I am not Christmasing

I am Adventing

I am plodding toward Bethlehem in the darkness

and the cold

 

And yet

I do believe Christmas will come

I do believe that love will prevail

 

For Sacred comes, and comes, and comes again

God is always incarnating into this world

 

We do not have a God who is scarce

But a God who is present

 

A scarce God demands exclusion

A scarce God stays aloof, judging

And handing out retribution

And mercy when it comes, is portioned out meagerly to the worthy

 

But a present God, one who incarnates

in all creation

in all people

in all hearts

in us

 

Ah!  that is the point of Christmas

 

But incarnation (Christmas) demands that we show up!

“Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness”

 

If we want Christmas

We will have to show up, not in the halls of power

Not in the mansions of the wealthy

 

But in the streets

With the homeless, and the desperate immigrant at the border,

in the hospital, with the COVID or cancer patient

in the nursing home, with the lonely woman or man

whose children cannot or will not come

 

If we want Christmas

We will have to fight for it

 

Not with the weapons of hate

But with the weapons of love

 

We fight for Christmas

When we feed the poor

When we fight for housing, first

When we welcome the homeless to sleep in our pews

When we insist on the truth

When we think of the common good, and not just ourselves

 

We fight for Christmas when we seek unity and peace

And refuse to demonize, refuse to hate, refuse to exclude

 

Call me a fool (many do)

Call me naïve

 

But even while I am adventing, and stumbling my way through the dark

 

I believe the light will come

And with Longfellow I affirm

 

God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!

The Wrong shall fail,

the Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men!”

 

 

 

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