FIRE

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There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.

Siddharta Gautama

 

I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

          John the Baptizer (Matthew 3:11)

______________________________________

 

it was a summer of fire

the rain didn’t come

the sun was relentless in a perpetually blue sky

 

then lightning

ignition

and fire

destroying all in its path

homes and livelihoods threatened

fire and fear

 

I love fire

there is something about a fire blazing in a wood stove

on a cold winter’s night

or a campfire under the stars

that is comforting and warming

 

a world without fire would be a cold and brittle place

but fire is never safe

 

for good or for ill, nothing touched by fire is ever the same                                                                                                

and one way or another

after fire comes the old is seared and charred

sometimes gone altogether

 

when fire comes there can be pain and loss

but there can be newness too

 

sprouts emerging out of scorched ground

and new beginnings

 

come Holy Spirit

come advent here

 

like fire

 

we know it is not safe

we know that when the fire of the Spirit

rages through our souls we will never be the same

 

we know there might be pain and loss

purging and purifying

 

but we know that our hearts will burn

with love

we know that we will be warmed by Sacred Presence

we know that we will be set ablaze with a passion for justice

we know that we will be driven to people in need

 

we know we will never be the same

 

come Holy Spirit

life changer, disturber, empowerer

roar through our inmost being

cleanse us

fire us up

 

for this is how the Sacred advents here

this is how the baby of Bethlehem is born

again and again

in the manger of our souls

and in this world

 

which so needs the warmth and light

of Sacred love

Breathe

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In the beginning, was chaos

God spoke and order came

Not just order, but wonder and beauty

the heavens and the earth in all their splendor

 

the flora and the fauna

and human creatures too

 

and God breathed

filling us with the breath of life

that wondrous gift of presence

and we have been breathing ever since

 

we need to breathe in

deeply

not just the air that fills our lungs

but the Love that fills our souls

 

as we walk through each day we need to breathe

left foot, right foot, left foot, breathe

 

Sometimes it is hard to breathe

so much takes our breath away

hatred, anger, greed, bigotry, all hit us like a punch in the stomach

 

people dying, people wanting people to die

 

this world assails us

and we are left gasping for breathe

 

Ah Sacred One, remind us to breathe

remind us to slow down our hearts, souls and minds

and breathe

 

let us watch the smile of a young child

taste the joy, and

breathe deeply

 

listen to a tired cry

and breathe deeply

 

watch as flakes drift lazily in the morning sky

each unique and perfect

and breathe deeply

 

feel all the emotions that roll through our souls

the anger and fear, the love and the peace

and breathe deeply

 

let us go into the depths, down to the center of who we are,

to awaken, to touch, that place inside us where the Sacred lies waiting

the infinite in the finite

and breathe deeply

 

we are the children of the sacred

we have an umbilical connection to the Source of all

life and creativity and love

 

let us draw life forth

and sing new worlds into creation

and breathe

deeply

 

for the answer to the world’s ills is there inside us

that is where Sacred Advents still

 

we should not bother to look outside our own soul for the answers we seek

there is no leader out there

no teacher, no guide

no lover

 

who can reignite us

 

only the wind

only the breath of the Spirit blowing through our soul

only the fire of divine love, roaring

 

can bring us back to life

new creations

 

the answer lies within

in the cry of our heart

for

God

 

so breathe

Winnowing

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WINNOWING

 

It is the Lord's kindness that he will take the scum off us in the fire. Who knows how needful winnowing is to us and what dross we have before we enter the kingdom of God? So narrow is the entry to heaven that our knots, lumps of pride, self-love, idol-love, and world-love must be hammered off us, that we may stoop low and creep through into that narrow entry.

Samuel Rutherford

_____________________________________

 

“Remember who you are” my mother would say

everytime

everytime

I would leave the house for a night out in our little country town

 

as if anyone would let me forget!

 

and yet I do forget

sometimes it feels as if I have a massive case of amnesia

 

I have forgotten who I am

where I cam from

what I was created to be

 

I have been taught you see, by this world

who I am

so that my image of myself has become blurred

 

my soul is more like Velcro than Teflon

burdened with the flotsam of life

with failures and losses

with pride and greed

and need

 

until I am weighed down, unable to move

 

so it is with so many of us

 

each day I listen to people who have learned

they are bad

stupid

a waste of space

selfish

weak

unworthy

unworthy

unworthy

 

spirituality I have decided is as much a matter of unlearning as learning

of unlearning all those things a fallen world has taught us

it is a matter of going inside

and finding God

 

for it is that moment when we find God inside ourselves

that we find ourselves inside God

 

and it is then that we unlearn that which be unlearned

and learn again what it means to be a child of God

 

when Sacred Advents in our soul

we are like the grain on the threshing floor

the wind of the Spirit tosses us as a winnowing fork tosses gain

 

and the chaff

all that binds us

floats away

blown by the wind of the Spirit

consumed by the fire of the Spirit

 

and that precious kernel that is our Sacred self

is freed

ready to be planted

and birthed again

WELCOME

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She's the first person to smile at me today.

The first to make me feel wanted. Understood.

I blink back tears. It's unknown how many students' lives librarians have saved

by welcoming loners at lunch.”

Lisa Fipps, Starfish

 

Tolerance is a poor substitute for embrace.”

Jamie Arpin-Ricci

 

Hospitality means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines. . . . The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create emptiness, not a fearful emptiness, but a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free; free to sing their own songs, speak their own languages, dance their own dances; free also to leave and follow their own vocations. Hospitality is not a subtle invitation to adore the lifestyle of the host, but the gift of a chance for the guest to find his own.

          Henri Nouwen

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ah, wonderful welcoming God

ah, Spirit of love which embraces

 

you came

“Into this world, this demented inn in which there is absolutely no room for [you] at all” you came uninvited (Merton)

 

there was no room for you in the minds and hearts of those

who looked at Mary scandalously, sending her to the hills for safety

 

there was no room at the inn

there was no room for you in the Synagogue at Nazareth

no room in the temple in Jerusalem

no room in the world

 

you were welcome, not welcome

greeted and judged, weighed and measured

you were not embraced

not welcome to be who you were

 

and yet you welcomed, all

at your birth there were welcome, shepherds

the lowest of the low

there were magi, heretic aliens from afar

you invited the most common of the common to be your disciples

fishermen, strong of scent

 

you welcomed Jews

and Romans

shady women, and shady men

the rich, the poor

the healthy, the ill

the sane and the insane

saint and sinner

religious and none

 

you welcomed them into your presence

a sketchy lot

 

welcome!

 

and that is when it all began

 

you drove no one from your presence

you cast no one out

there was hope for change, I think

that greed would turn to generosity

that a lust for power would turn to humility

 

but there were no tests of faith

no demands for perfection

no loaded expectations

only welcome, and the offer of love

 

people came to you just as they were

and they were welcomed just as they were

and that radical welcome

set them free

 

to hear and see

to open their minds and hearts

to become Sacred children

 

imperfect still

struggling still

but new

 

we are called to welcome

to welcome all

not to parse our hospitality based upon who they are

not to burden with the expectation of change

the demand that they become who and what we want them to be

but to welcome, unconditionally

 

so that people, welcomed, loved, safe and free

can

sing their own songs,

speak their own languages,

dance their own dances;

love whom they love

or leave to go their own way, undamaged, unjudged

 

we are to welcome

so that people can find and discover and accept themselves

and know what it means to be truly loved

and knowing love

love and welcome others

in return

RAIN

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Last night

the rain

spoke to me

slowly, saying,

 

what joy

to come falling

out of the brisk cloud,

to be happy again

 

in a new way

on the earth!

That’s what it said

as it dropped…

          Mary Oliver

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dry

the dryness of the high desert

where I have lived among the sagebrush and juniper

 

where alkaline earth cracks in the summer sun

and blue skies are eternity

 

dry

the devastating months and years of drought

sucking life out of the soil

emptying the rivers

leaving famine in its wake

 

dry

those moments when you have gone too far

too fast

too long

when your soul is withered and cracked

and even the plentiful feast of grace

tastes like sawdust in your mouth

 

we all spend time in the desert

in those places where we are stretched thin

where parched we long to feel the rain

fall on barren ground

 

where we wait

eyes straining as we gaze at a perpetually blue sky

where the sun blazes unrelentingly,

waiting for a sign

for one little cloud

for rain

 

how we long for rain

to smell the dust, damp

to feel the air full of moisture

to see the clouds roll in, their blackness not threatening

but promising

 

we all spend time in the desert

where thirsty we long for springs of living water

welling up within our souls

 

where we wait for that sense of Sacred presence

to come down and drench the earth

with transformation

 

Oh, heavens above,

rain down righteousness;

let the clouds shower down love and hope, peace and joy

 

Let the earth open wide,

Let our hearts open wide

receiving the gift

letting it soak us, fill us

 

until salvation springs up,

out of our dry souls (Isaiah 45)

 

O Lord,

Advent here

dDELIGHT

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When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Kahlil Gibran

 

This is the irrational season

when love blooms bright and wild.

Had Mary been filled with reason

there’d have been no room for the child.

Madeleine L’Engle

________________________________

 

the people living in darkness

the people living in darkness have seen

the people living in darkness have seen a great light

 

Advent is an irrational season (L’Engle)

a season where longing and sadness dance

with anticipation and joy

 

where the threat of radical transformation looms

and the world is turned upside down

where the powerful fall

and the mournful and poor are blessed

and everything the world holds as sacred

is pronounced profane

 

and heaven comes down

 

and all the pain and wounds of the world

are touched with light and love

 

it has always been that way

on that night so long ago

shepherds suffered

as poor and outcast they watched their flocks

 

and yet their night was touched with delight

as angel choirs sang and good news was proclaimed

 

Mary struggled through the pain of childbirth

nestled there among the animals

and then there was delight

as breath came, and then a cry

 

Joseph probably pondered

as he watched it all unfold

confused, and yet touched with delight

 

Magi lost, but delighted by the star

wandered toward love

 

and now we too wander

a little bit lost

a little bit sad

full of fear and confusion

wondering where it all leads

this greed, this lust for power, these lies

 

and yet we delight in

Christmas lights twinkling

trees decorated

presents offered

cookies baked

 

all the colors and smells of the season

families gathering

 

this is not a Hallmark movie

for the lostness lingers

people are still sick, homeless, alienated, addicted

greedy, fearful, hateful

 

we are a people walking in darkness still

 

but it is a time to stop

and reflect

to look for signs and wonders

to find that star in the sky

 

and know that love is on the way

UNITY

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UNITY

 

“One love, one heart . . .Let’s get together and feel all right”

Bob Marley - Legend                             

 

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

          Abraham Lincoln (1^st inaugural address)

________________________________________

 

let us be one

 

in this world of hate and division

in this world where politics and religion

drive us apart

 

let us be one

 

the world is full of dividers

of people with power

and power with money

who want to divide us

 

for they know that divided we are prey

and they are predators

 

They want us afraid

They want us angry

They want us to hate.

 

they want us to see others as threats

as competition

as enemies

 

and so they deny others their humanity

and make them vague and menacing

they steal their faces and make caricatures

 

and complicit we fail to realize that when we rob others of their humanity

we lose our own

we are no longer in the image of Love

we no longer wear our identity as sacred children

 

we become people living in darkness

our light has been stolen

 

but let us be one

 

for once upon a time

a light shone in the darkness

and the darkness

not even the darkness of empire

could overcome it

 

that light is embedded in each of us

 

we carry that light

and we are called to walk in the light

we are called to overwhelm the darkness

 

in this time of division

as the power-hungry and greedy

seek to plunder our souls

 

we cannot allow the dividers to bury our love

burn our hope

take all our light

 

we cannot let them separate us

for we are one

one

united by the One who is love

the One who is “over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4)

 

bound together by love

our souls connected

 

this I think is the great work of the Sacred

uniting

(or as Richard Rohr puts it, “oneing”)

 

“God is always oneing everything, making twos and threes and fours

and divisions and dichotomies and dualisms into one.”

 

God is about helping us find

unity

union

wholeness

 

everywhere

 

the Sacred is about re-connecting us (that is the meaning of the word religion, “re-ligio”)

to the ground of being (God)

to ourselves (our essential self)

and others (all others)

 

so that in the One

we are

one

one in hope

one in peace

one in joy

one in love

READY

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I’ll be ready when you are!

No, I’m not ready, this is my first cup of coffee!

I’m as ready as I’ll ever be!

 

are we ever ready?

for anything?

 

can we ever be truly, completely ready?

 

I remember, in my younger days

those intense souls who literally

put the fear of God into me (and so many others)

 

Jesus is coming back

the day of the Lord will come like a thief,

“the heavens will pass away with a roar

the elements will be destroyed with intense heat,

and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Peter)

 

and if you are not ready?

well, it is conscious eternal torment for you!

 

and to be ready?!

what did that mean?

 

enter the world of unclarity

Jesus did in fact talk about being “ready” (Luke 12)

be “clothed”

keep the lamps burning

(and this is really the punch line)

be ready to serve (ah, there is that servant thing again)

 

be wise

know what God wants

and do what is generous and right

 

oh, and there was one more thing

don’t be a jerk

don’t be a bully

don’t be a person who abuses power

and takes too much for themselves

 

so what does it mean to be ready?

does it mean to spout a formula?

does it mean embracing the right creed, or ideology

does it mean going to ‘church’? (the ‘right” church)

 

is it about performance?

 

does living in the shadow of Advent

mean we have to keep looking over our shoulder

for the arrival of an angry, cruel, and retributive God

who will punish us if we are not prepared?

 

if that is what it means can we ever, ever, be “ready”?

no wonder some feel Christianity is a religion based on fear

(it has certainly been made such)

 

what I get from Jesus is this

that I simply need to be connected to the Sacred

however that happens

 

I need to be a branch connected to the source of life of a love

and so connected, be filled with life and love

(let’s call that the Spirit)

and then I need to be open enough to (imperfectly to be such) let life and love

flow from me to others

 

and that should be my goal, every, single, day

 

to be a person who lives love

oozes love and grace

who does the work entrusted to them by Jesus

(of taking care of others, read the parable)

until at some point

Advent

 

That moment when the unmistakable, unavoidable presence of Love

will once again be

incarnate

 

and because it will be the arrival of Love

it will be good news

for all the people

 

I’m ready

MAKE

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“It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”

Mahatma Gandhi

______________________________

 

if I have it right

Jesus didn’t talk much about what we believe

he didn’t offer a creed

or a dissertation on the attributes of the divine

 

he did in fact reveal a lot about the Sacred

indeed, as it has been said,

Jesus did not come to change God’s mind about us

but to change our mind about God

 

but what Jesus did was offer us a new way of doing life,

of being in the world

 

and he lived it

 

that way of being present

listening

caring

healing

serving

fellowship

sacrificing

loving

 

we are called to do those things

because it is by living that way

that we MAKE way for God’s new thing

 

this is how we prepare the way for the Kingdom of Love

for that is what this is all about

a new heaven and a new earth

 

the intention of God is the salvation of history.

All creation

All people being made new

 

salvation is collective

and we live it out, but how we are with one another

 

this is why the way of domination

of coercion and retribution

the way of control

of “winning”

 

is so wrong

what do we “make” when we walk down that path?

we make winners and losers

rich people, but also poor people

powerful people, but also powerless people

 

but that is not the way of the kingdom

where all are gathered at the table

where people flow from north and south, east and west

to the mountain of God

 

cousin John (the Baptist)

gave a clarion call

prepare the way

make clear the way

 

that is indeed our calling

to do the right things

the loving things

 

to be agents of reconciliation

in a world of alienation

 

it may seem hopeless

we may feel hopeless

the powers and authorities

the “elemental powers” of the world seem so powerful (Colossians)

 

our actions are important

what we do, every, single, day

is important

 

So “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right,

for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9)

MOUNTAINS

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MOUNTAINS

 

Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,

For I would ride with you upon the wind,

Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,

And dance upon the mountains like a flame.

William Butler Yeats, The Land of Heart's Desire

 

 

I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you-- the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life;

The LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.              

          Psalm 121

 

___________________________________________________

 

I live in a valley

in a place of roads, towns, and people

 

I live in a valley

where life happens

with all of its joy and sadness

hope and disappointment

 

where the tyranny of the urgent is real

and sometimes,

I get lost

 

in the busyness

the mundane

the demands

 

I am comforted, somewhat

in knowing that even Jesus had his moments

when life in the valley was just too much

 

and when he did

he went to the mountains

for connection with the Sacred

for rest, for clarity

 

there is something about mountains

with their majesty and beauty

there is something about being on a mountain

where you can breathe deep

and see!

really see, how wide, long, high, and deep

it all is

 

everything

God, creation, you

 

When I think of mountains cannot help but think of Dr. Martin Luther King.

I have been to the mountain.

I have been to the mountain.

I have seen the Promised Land.

 

I love the mountains

but I live in the valley

 

Jesus came down from Mount Tabor

and headed down the road to Jerusalem

 

God is on the mountain top

but God is also in the valley

on the mountain, we gain clarity, purpose, and power

in the valley, the work gets done!

 

Paul Stookey expresses this reality in one of the songs he wrote after his conversion:

“And I wonder if you’ve ever been to the mountain

To look at the valley below?

Did you see all the roads tangled down in the valley?

Did you know which way to go?

Oh the mountain stream runs pure and clear

And I wish to my soul I could always be here,

But there’s a reason for living way down in the valley

That only the mountain knows”

 

let us go, to the mountain

where God will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in Sacred paths. (Isaiah 2)

 

let us go to the mountain

let us spend some time with the sacred

that we may be of some earthly good.

 

but let us remember that God can erupt anywhere

 

sometimes, as I live in the shadow of the mountain

I feel a bit like Jacob

who woke from a pillow of stone

in a very commonplace

and

while God's breath was still stirring the air

said in surprise,

“Surely God was in this place, and I did not know it!"

 

God is in the mountain, in the heights

but God is in the valley too

 

God can Advent anywhere

TEACH

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True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their own.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

 

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father

          Jesus, Upper Room Discourses

 

Many people think of Jesus as our Savior, as the one who will get us into heaven. So the question often is “Have I accepted Jesus as my Savior?” But we never ask the question “Have I accepted Jesus as my teacher?”

 Dallas Willard,

____________________________________________

 

during Advent we celebrate the coming of the Messiah

 

the one, or so his mother tells us

topples kings and kingdoms

lifts up the humble

who scatters the proud

and fills the hungry with good things, plucked from the bones of the rich

(OMG! Socialism!)

 

so why is it that so much of “Christianity”

for so much of its tainted existence

has protected kings and kingdoms

devalued the humble

worshiped the proud

and ignored the poor?

 

it is a strange thing

how we focus on Jesus’s coming and going

but seem to forget

most everything in between

 

we love the story of Jesus’s arrival

the baby in a manger (which should teach us something)

the humble parents

and lowly shepherds

 

we linger on the cross,

and the empty tomb,

and the resurrection story

and make it all somehow a story of retribution

and rescue from the hands of an angry God

 

but we seem to miss the point of both

the beginning and the end

of the Advent of Jesus

because we ignore his teachings

 

ah! 

those teachings

the radicality of the Gospel is astounding

give to receive

give up power to find true power

love and pray for your enemies

sell all you have and give to the poor

turn the other cheek

enter into the pain of the world

be the servant of all

die to live

 

if I am honest, I shy away from the radicality of Love (God)

and slip (as John Dominic Crossan puts it, back into the normalcy of the world

as quickly as I can

 

sure, I give a few gifts on giving Tuesday

but am I sacrificial in my giving? 

rarely!

 

how do I feel about my enemies?

let’s not talk about that!

 

it is hard isn’t it,

to follow the teachings of Jesus?

which is perhaps why Chesterton famously said;

“The problem with Christianity is not that it has been tried and found wanting,

but that it has been found difficult and left untried.”

 

this Advent season

as we wander through the darkness toward the dawning light

of Christmas

 

may we remember that Jesus came to teach us

another way of doing life

 

and not just teach us,

but also empower us!

to do greater works of love

than we ever thought possible

Together

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TOGETHER

 

The Destiny of Man is to unite, not to divide. If you keep on dividing you end up as a collection of monkeys throwing nuts at each other out of separate trees.

T.H. White, The Once and Future King

 

… through the Trinity [Sacred] we transcend us-them, in-out thinking.  Imprisoned in our old familiar dualistic thinking, we were always dividing the world into mine and yours, one and other, same and different, better and worse.  In the Trinity, we move beyond that dualism so that mine and yours are reconciled into ours. One and other are transformed into one another.

          Brian McLaren, We Make the Road by Walking

 

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.

          Jesus, Upper Room Discourses

__________________________________________

 

we wander cautiously into the world of Advent,

onto that long and winding road

through the land of already and not yet

 

it is bewildering

our insistence that unto us a child is born

a Prince of Peace

 

while we watch the world burn

and people strive

and wait

praying “thy kingdom come”

 

thy kingdom come on earth

 

it seems so very dark

this place we dwell

this path we walk, stumbling

 

and we are afraid of the dark

and in fear we lash out

 

we bite and devour one another,

we consume each other like predators

 

we have let the world squeeze us into its mold

we have been programmed

to the world in terms of us and them

in and out

mine and yours

 

we are the children of Babel

screeching incoherently at each other

while we clutch our guns

our Smart TVs

our fear and hate

 

but this is not the original design

and our journey, though perilous and frightening

is toward a dawning of a new day

a return to Eden

 

for Advent is a journey toward reconciliation

of human creatures to Love

of human creature to human creature

 

back to original blessing

where “mine and yours are reconciled into ours,”

and “one and other are transformed into one another.”

 

one thing is clear

as we embark upon this trek

this long night’s journey into day

 

at the end

we must all get there

together

 

Adventing

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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!”

 

 

 

faith for the road

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I had never thought of it before

But if you read between the lines

Jesus taught sitting

 

And those who listened were standing

 

I like to think of them as eager

Standing on tip-toe

Leaning forward, engaged, ready to learn

 

But more, ready to hit the road

ready to walk into the world and carry with them

the gifts of the teacher

 

ready to talk the talk

but more, to walk the walk

 

ah, that standing crowd

I wonder if Jesus ever said

“you had better sit down for this”

 

As he taught the radicality of Sacred love

 

Blessed are the poor

Those who mourn

Blessed are the servants

And the truth-tellers

 

Blessed are those who expend themselves for others

Who put it all out there

All that they have, all that they are

For the cause of love

 

Blessed are those who feed the hunger

Give water to the thirsty

Welcome the stranger

And visit those excluded and shunned

 

Blessed are you

When following my way

Does not get you to the corner office

Does NOT get you elected

Does not make you wealthy, or powerful, or comfortable

 

But causes you trouble

The trouble of seeing the pain around you

 

I wonder if their knees sagged a little

as those words sank into their souls

 

I wonder if they walked away confused?

Or excited!

Or Sad.

 

I do know this

They did not sit there

Semi-comatose

Listening to words that barely registered

 

Jesus did not speak down to them,

He spoke up to them

 

And whether they got it or not

Whether they understood deeply, or in part

Whether they were willing to embrace the way

Or whether they rejected it

 

they carried a little bit of Jesus with them

when they left that place

 

Perhaps we have it all wrong

With our preachers in pulpits and the people in the pews

It seems this is not a sitting faith

But a standing faith

A walking faith

 

a faith we take with us

on the road

wishful thinking

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Wishing is a way to figure out what our heart wants

It is us, picking our way through the deep forest,

Seeking that path to our destination.

 

There is something special (as Frederick Buechner understood)

And something spiritual about wishful thinking

And about whistling in the dark

 

Metta phrases are like wishing

Wishing one’s self well

Wishing other’s well

Wishing even one’s antagonists well

 

An aspiration for wellness

For whomever we direct the wish

 

May I be safe

May she be well

May he/she (that person who torments me) be happy

 

And prayer too!

I often wander through my day muttering at God

Hey God, are you there?

Seriously, God?

A little help!

Thank you!

Wow!

 

When I pray I am not telling God what to do

(Some like to do that, but not me)

I am sending my heart wishes to whatever it is

That I participate in

That participates in me       

 

Whomever it is that dwells in my deepest places

 

I am seeking connection and

Stating my deepest hopes

 

Prayer is the cry of my heart

For hope, or healing

For peace and joy

For love

 

Not just for myself

But for our poor planet

For the beautiful creatures who inhabit it

And for human creatures too

 

We poor, afflicted, wounded, misguided

Fearful, confused

Beautiful

Amazing

Creatures

 

Prayers that we will come to our senses

Prayers that we will find healing

And generosity

And welcome

Without our own frail bodies

 

And then offer those same gifts

To others

 

Wishful thinking indeed

 

Today I share the wishes of my heart

May I be free from enmity.

May I be free from hurtfulness.

May I be free of troubles of mind and body.

May I be able to protect my own happiness.

 

May you be free from enmity.

May you be free from hurtfulness.

May you be free of troubles of mind and body.

May you be able to protect your happiness.

 

May all beings be free from enmity.

May all beings be free from hurtfulness.

May all beings be free of troubles of mind and body.

May all beings be able to protect their happiness.

 

Today I will wish us all well

May all our wishes, hopes, and prayers

Come true

 

Do we believe

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It seems we are wandering into the darkness

The days keep getting shorter (for a little while)

The weather keeps getting more extreme

And yes, our systems keep getting messier

 

Toxic people keep winning elections

The poor keep getting poorer and the rich richer

 

And yet

 

The voice still calls in the wilderness

Prepare ye the way

 

Prepare ye the way for what?

An authoritarian leader who will control and coerce?

Divine retribution?

 

A time when the “righteous” gloat

And the “unrighteous” burn?

 

Prepare ye the way

 

Who showed up after John the Baptist made that appeal

Love showed up

Incarnated in a person

 

A person who showed us the true nature of the Sacred

(we should have had a clue from nature, but no!)

A person who showed us what love looks like

A person who showed us how to face hate and fear

A person who showed us how to live

 

A person who lived a life so amazing

And died so lovingly

That, as Brian McLaren suggests

Our worst failures were swallowed up in his save!

 

And we have been told that a some point

The way of this person, this Jesus, will be The Way

The way the world works

That the way he lived will be the way we live

All of us!

 

That the earth, which we have ravaged

Will be made new

And we will too

 

And here is the question

Do we believe that?

Do we have faith that this is true?

 

We celebrate the possibility every year

As Christians wander through the ambiguity of Advent

And the rest of the world celebrates Christmas

(starting right after Halloween, or so it seems)

 

But do we believe it?

Do we believe that eventually, love will win

 

Do we have faith?

Do we have enough faith to make what is possible, real?

 

Jesus said it doesn’t take much faith

Only faith the size of a mustard seed

 

What does faith do?

I think it opens us to the possibilities

I think it opens us to Love

And to Sacred

 

Perhaps faith is Leonard Cohen’s

Chink of hope

 

Perhaps faith is the crack

Perhaps that is how the light gets in

 

and we all know what a little light

does to the darkness

 

It is difficult to have faith in times like this

But the alternative

For me

Is unbearable

 

So I will declare

I believe