Silent Night

Were you there at church last night? Did you see how pretty the church looked with the decorations and the candles? And the music! Oh, it was lovely. The service was all printed out in the bulletin, so you didn't have to fumble around with the hymnals. The choir was beautiful. Everything, (especially the sermon!) was just the right note.

And I'm thinking, too, of the birth of Jesus. Of course I am, it's the "reason for the season" as the bumper sticker points out. But the coming of something so profound, so hard to believe that it just has to be true. That God would love us so much...it staggers the mind...or at least my mind. That the humble beginnings of so great an event pulls you away from the clang and clatter of the TV and the i Pad and the iPhone and remind us once again that there are somethings more important than the wrapping paper and bows. The pivot point of the history of the world. The coming of God down to earth--Emmanuel--I am so humbled and awe filled. Like the shepherds with the sheep and the scary angels lighting up the sky.

I hope you joined us for Christmas this year, but if you didn't, that's okay, we'll catch you at Epiphany.

The Season

I love songs at Christmas. Not just the hymns, but all the hokey, smarmy, cliche ridden songs I can listen to--especially now. I know lots of lyrics for those songs and many in my family probably wish I didn't as I belt them out in my best out-of-tune voice whenever I hear them. I'm one of those people who love to sing, but people don't love to hear it, you get the idea.

Anyway, the one lyric that is sticking in my head today is from the Christmas Waltz, the version I'm thinking of is one that Frank Sinatra recorded. The line is this: "It's that time of year, when the world falls in love..." And it makes me smile. We are sometimes foolishly convinced that our fellow man is more generous, more gentle, more humane at this time of year than any other. I really don't know the statistics of whether this is true or not. But I don't care. I smile more and more people smile back, so let me have my illusions. I fall in love this time of year, too. Because I believe that Jesus is coming, not as the child in the manger, but as my Savior. He's coming to all of us. And his arms are open and welcoming. He doesn't need this time of year to love us, he does that all year. God isn't partial I'm sure to evergreens and pretty candles. And I fall in love with the idea that someone loves me no matter what I have done in the past or will do in the future. This song reminds me of that love...or maybe I can just hear it better in this season.

So Merry Christmas, happy Advent and Joyous Noel to you and yours.

Who is Your Brother or Sister For That Matter?

One of the things that is either easy to understand or almost impossible is the way Jesus speaks of family. It's easy sometimes, when you love your family and like to be together with them to hear Jesus say that we are all God's children. But, when you aren't particularly happy with your family, or squabbling with your siblings or aunts or uncles or even cousins, you don't want to remember that Jesus reminded you that you are one of many of God's children. At times like that, you'd like to think that the tee shirt with the saying on it, "Jesus Loves You, But I'm His Favorite", is really true.

But the other thing to remember is this: the brotherhood or sisterhood of humans means we are all related in some way. The person sitting next to you on the train or bus, the hundreds of people passing you on the street in the city or in the mall, they are all your brothers and sisters as well. And remembering that is harder than forgiving Aunt Lily for spilling gravy on your grandmothers tablecloth! Because there are seven million people in this world now. Seven million. It's a number I can't even fathom with regards to people. I get antsy in crowds of 50 or more. I can't remember the birthdays and anniversaries of the people in my biological family. I'm doomed with all these others! Now because there are so many people in this world, we'd like to think that Jesus, in his small town mentality, was saying that loving your neighbor meant just the immediate few in the region. You know, take in the papers for the neighbors when they are away. Maybe feed their pet while they are on vacation. At least wave and say hi when you see them. But I have a feeling Jesus meant more than that. And I'm pretty sure he didn't mean just love the people who look like you. Or act like you. Or even think like you. If that were the case, he would have had probably about 5 Pharisee and/or Sadducee following him around and he probably would have lived a lot longer.

Our sisters and brothers of this crowded sphere are everywhere. And loving them means helping them to find fresh water, get free of diseases like malaria or AIDS, live in a place where there is shelter and safety. We may not personally have the means or the ability to travel to places to make sure this happens, but we do have the means and ability to pray for these things to happen. And when we can, we can give to something as large as Lutheran World Relief or as small as the guy on the street looking for a handout.

So let's look out for our family in the days ahead. Not just our biological one (although that is important), and not just our neighbors in the block (although, that is important, too). Let's look at the family of brothers and sisters in Christ and pray for them, care for them, remember them. 'Cause we all have the same Dad.

Devotionals or Something Like Them

So everyday I have at least two, count 'em, two devotionals delivered to my inbox of my personal e-mail. Although one has different authors each week or even sometimes daily, the other has a wonderful gentleman whose thoughtful writings make me smile and sometimes shudder in shame as I recognize myself. Both are usually opened by me in the middle of the morning while at work. I do not work in a church, so there could be a reason for someone to grumble about me taking the 5 to 8 minutes it takes to read these, but technically I have two fifteen minute breaks a day, so I consider this to be one of them. I love the way the author's words reach out to me each in their own ways. I almost always can either agree or understand the point of view of those writings as well. It makes me feel like I'm part of the community even when I'm not in the building.

I have a devotional booklet in the bathroom upstairs as well. I read that well, never mind when I read that. Suffice it to say I find time almost every day to read it and ponder the author's point of view. It reminds me that there are many ways to look at scripture and the Christian life and not all of those ways are the same. Again it reminds me that I am in community with Christians all around the world. The basic premise of Jesus Christ as savior is the underlying brickwork to their walls of prose. And I feel a certain smugness to be allowed to walk the hallways of their minds with them.

So, what I want to know is this: what do you do each day to bring the word to you? What do you do each day to remind you that even if you aren't in the church building you are part of the church community? How did you spread the Word today? I'm just asking...

The Meaning of the Date

This weekend is an emotional one for many Americans. With good reason. And sometimes, when emotions are involved, it's hard to see things any other way than with, well, your emotions. The beauty of a life lived in the Lord is that you are given grace over and above what you deserve. And that grace just spills out to everyone. God did not put qualifiers on who gets to receive this gift. The Almighty didn't dole it out in small packages to a select few, so they could hoard it amongst themselves. This gift freely given was to be given, so that it could spread out from person to person, tribe to tribe, race to race, nation to nation. God's love is too big to keep to yourself. And God wants us to spread it around everywhere. Not just in our little corner of New Jersey, or the East coast or even the United States. And in this time of remembrance, we need to spread it around some more. To give freely of the love given freely to us. We need to remember not just those who died, but those who were left behind. Those who gave up their lives and those who still live them. Those who walked the ash-covered canyons and those who just saw the pictures and were horrified but essentially untouched. Everyone is touched by someone. And sharing the love of God is our imperative with each someone we meet. No matter who they are and where they have come from.

It is an emotional weekend, true. But it can also be one that is filled with grace and love if we open our hearts to these things and share them.

How Powerful the Sun (Son) Is!

This is a rainy Sunday morning. It is flooding the streets and the gutters with alarming speed. As I sit and watch the rain come down in sheets, I thought about something. It was morning, the sky was dark and dreary, but I could still see the rain coming down. The sun above the clouds was still bright enough to let me know that the day had started, it had come up despite the rain. The sun is so powerful that even on such an overcast day, we can tell that it is daylight.

In our lives there are sunny and rainy days as far as our faith is concerned, too. There are days when the sunshine of the Lord's love breaks through the darkest corners of our hearts and we are renewed and refreshed. There are also days when the darkness of our thoughts and our faith feels like there is no such thing as God, no such love which surpasses all understanding. But you see the Son shines there too, if we let it. If we remember that Jesus in his lifetime experienced the darkest moments as well, but was resurrected into new life for us. He is the Son that comes through the clouds on our rainiest days. He is the light of the world on the days when we are convinced that there is no light to be had. How strong and powerful is our God. And how awesome! Will you allow some of God's love and light to fill you today, no matter what it looks like outside? Open your heart and mind to God and see what a truly beautiful day it is in the light!

Taking a Vacation

I was away from home recently. I was with family and it was a good thing. A restful, albeit, hot and humid thing. One of the practices that I do when I'm away is to bring one of my devotional books and read in the early morning hours before everyone is going every which way. But this year, I forgot to bring a book! It's the first time that I didn't have something to read and think about each day. I could get my e-mail sporadically, so that daily devotional thing which pops up in my inbox, didn't get to me either.

And so I got lazy. I didn't sit and ponder and pray first thing in the morning as I usually do. I have my phone set for a specific time to ring every day to remind me to pray with my prayer partner. But I found myself, hitting the phone reminder off and continuing to do the things I normally do, without stopping to pray or even meditate. And you know what? The world didn't end. People didn't suddenly vanish from the earth because of my lack of discipline. But I did find something out. When my day is not bracketed by prayer, it feels like I left something out. It seems to be unfinished. I almost always fell into bed tired from the days activities, but it was like I forgot to say "good night" to my children when they were small. The days didn't feel completed. It didn't occur to me until the next to last night we were away, that the reason for my dis-ease was because I hadn't listened to the Lord. And I hadn't talked to him either. About anything. No, I take that back. I did a hundred small thank yous within the week for the blue sky, the warm sand, the cooling water, the laughter of family. But I didn't do the protracted prayer I usually do. I didn't intercede for anyone or anything. I was totally selfish.

In earlier days, I would have come home and beat myself up for this lack of discipline. But I'm cutting myself some slack this time. God is aware of my shortcoming and my strengths. God is abundantly aware of my frailties and my humble gifts. He is not going to strike anything or anyone down because I let him down in my practices of prayer. I think he missed me. I know I missed him.

So I'm home now. My alarm on my phone went off to remind me to pray with my partner today and I did indeed say a quick prayer, thanking God for his gracious goodness in my life and blessing me and my family. Then I picked up a book and began to read the next chapter, knowing that I'll return to the discipline of my former vacation days on Monday. Thank God we have a savior who understands and doesn't take a vacation.