Tag: getting ready for Christmas

Advent

I don’t miss worrying about the budget.
Or, about the person who is upset by something I said or didn’t say.
I don’t miss doing my best to stay calm amidst the office angst over the extra work to be done.
Or waiting for the call from the funeral home.
I don’t miss the demand (framed as a request) for one more thing to do.
Or, the last minute deadline for something inadvertently forgotten.

I do miss seeing the Advent wreath front and center in the sanctuary.
I do miss the deep purple ribbons on the wreaths on the front door.
I do miss the child running down the center aisle to give me a hug.
I do miss watching the candles being lit and singing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
I do miss searching for the best words I can find to help turn those who are gathered in the direction of the wonder and mystery and meaning of Christmas.

In God We Trust

I saw it on a license plate.
In that place where The Green Mountain State or The Sunshine State or the Show Me State would normally be.
In God We Trust.
I walked by wondering what the person or the couple who owned the car meant by having that on license plate. Given my cynicism, I read it as something like let’s return to the days of public prayer in school or if you only believed in God the way I believe in God life would return to normal and things would get back to the way things used to be.

Then, several steps later the question I asked of them was turned back at me.
“What about me?”
Do I believe…can I say In God I Trust?
Caught between my faith and my cautiousness given the way religion has been too often used to exclude rather than include and as a stick to beat others over the head, it took me a few minutes to get to Yes.
In God I trust that the long arc of history does bend in the direction of justice.
In God I trust that all should have enough and all should have a place.
In God I trust that the peacemakers shall be named the Children of God.
In God I trust that the dream is to make the circle bigger and not smaller.
In God I trust that the table should be longer and the walls lower.
In God I trust that loving God and loving neighbors are two ways to say the same thing.
In God I trust that treating others the way I would like to be treated is, in fact, the golden rule.
In God I trust the Fear Not Angels who come today to proclaim Peace on Earth.
In God I trust the promise of Emmanuel. God with us.
In God I trust that the grand dream of God is possible.
In God I trust that you and I are called to be partners with God in making all this and more possible.
In God I trust.

Maybe not what they meant, but….
The third Sunday in Advent.

Advent 1

I love Advent.
And, getting ready for Christmas.
I love the decorations and the music and the list making and the gift giving.
Some of my love for this time of year revolves around memories and tradition.
Creches pulled out of boxes and set in their assigned places.
Singing Silent Night while holding a flickering candle…one among all the others.
Electric candles placed in each window of our house.
But deeper than the trees and the gifts and the carols and the candles, I hold onto the hope and promise that what Advent points towards and what Christmas proclaims is true. Not that the narratives from the Bible which we read and reread are literally true, but that the truth they turn us towards is true. That that which we know and name as God is somehow intertwined with this crazy, messed up life and world which is mine and ours. That the Holy is wrapped up in my very ordinary, sometimes broken, often confused life.
Imagine that.
Most of the time I can’t, but I do hope it is true.
That the best I can imagine…
The best that is more than I can imagine…
The more that is beyond my knowing…
Is somehow a part of my life just as it is.
In this moment.
And, in the next.
And, in the moment after that.
And, the one after that.
On and on and on.

So, in these Advent days which lead to Christmas, I will listen to the carols and hum along.
And sometimes even dare to sing out loud.
I will recall and retell the story so I hear it one more time.
Mary. Joseph. Angels. Shepherds. Wandering Magi.
I will unpack the creches.
Felt on 2x4s made and sent to me by friends.
The pottery one my parents bought me.
The carved one from Bethlehem.
The knitted on made by the older woman who loved to wear beautiful hats to worship.
Allowing them to remind me of the story.
But also, that the story is not my story, but our story.
Your story and my story and their story, too.
And, I will light the candles allowing them to push back the darkness just a bit.
And maybe burn their way somehow deeper into my heart and mind and soul.

Tags

Several things I believe: