Tag: Advent Meditation

An Advent Tapestry–Without poverty of spirit there can be no abundance of God

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The Nativity by Arthur Hughes

The God We Hardly Knew
by Archbishop Oscar Romero

No one can celebrate
a genuine Christmas
without being truly poor.
The self-sufficient, the proud,
those who, because they have
everything, look down on others,
those who have no need
even of God- for them there
will be no Christmas.
Only the poor, the hungry,
those who need someone
to come on their behalf,
will have that someone.
That someone is God.
Emmanuel. God-with-us.
Without poverty of spirit
there can be no abundance of God.

 

No one wants to admit to being needy.  It is, after all, allowing someone else to have strength and power to deliver what one is desperate for.  Relinquishing that control is painful but it is more painful to be so poor that one is hungry without food, thirsty without drink, ill without medicine,  cold without shelter,  alone without God.

When we are well fed and hydrated, healed, clothed and safe in our homes, it is difficult to be considered “needy”.  Yet most of us are ultimately bereft and spiritually impoverished, needing God even when we won’t admit it, or reject Him.

Despite the wealth with which we surround ourselves every day, our need is still great; we stand empty and ready to be filled–abundantly.

 

 

An Advent Tapestry–God Sent Me

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Nativity by Geertgen tot Sint Jans

John 8:42

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.”

There must have been moments when He wondered why He was sent.

There were times when He wept, times when He was frustrated, times when He must have felt He would never manage to make the people around Him understand who He was.  Certainly the people of Nazareth dismissed him as the carpenter’s son.  Even His own family didn’t seem to completely understand.

Yet come He did for a people who can be hopelessly blind to the truth, deaf to the Word, stumbling in the dark like the lame, not thinking clearly like the possessed.  He dwells among us all, opening our eyes, whispering in our ears, guiding us on the straight path and exhorting us to clarity and sanity.

There should be no doubt, He was sent from God our Father.

Be amazed that He came at all.  And decided to stay.

An Advent Tapestry–Do Not Make It Difficult For Him

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“Be patient and without bitterness, and realize that the least we can do is to make coming into existence no more difficult for Him than the earth does for spring when it wants to come.”
Rainier Marie Rilke

There are many more people on earth right now who experience no anticipation of the coming of Christ than who actively celebrate His advent and birth.  Most don’t care, some might care if they knew, but plenty were ready for the whole Christmas thing to be over yesterday.

Whether we care or not does not alter that Christ does dwell with us, just as the coming of spring is not stopped by a slumbering disinterested earth.

Like Mary, we say:  “Let it be”, not “no, not me, not now.”

We are transformed, simply by accepting He has come on our behalf:  simple, but oh so difficult faith, like the shoot that must break through the crust of frozen earth to reach the sun, in order to bloom.

An Advent Tapestry: In the Beginning Was the Word

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And so it starts with the Word.  There is nothing more powerful, more sustaining, more everlasting, more connecting than the Word that is spoken and written, heard and read, taken in and understood, forever becoming part of our vocabulary to be passed on again and again.  It not only dwells among us but lives within us.

When all else falls away, there will always be the Word that became flesh–foretold, forewarned, forsaken, forgiving.

If the beginning was the Word, then it makes perfect sense: we were created to listen.  This is the season for listening as if we are hearing it all for the first time.

Advent Meditation–Yes and Amen

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The Annunciation by Henry Tanner, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Today the answer is “Yes”, over and over again.  God’s fulfillment of His promises is manifest in His Son Christ Jesus, born as he was in simple surroundings, with no trappings of royalty or riches.  And so God tells us “Yes” today, again and again, that we may know Him as He has become one with us.  We have experienced God in the flesh, as He dwelt among us.

Christ is the covenant, the contract God has made with His people.  We are bound to Him, even when we pull away and say “No” as we are wont to do,  regularly and emphatically.

Young Mary is an example of how we need to be:  when told the impossible, the implausible, the incomprehensible would happen to her, her response was not “No way–go find someone else!”.  Her response was “Behold the willing servant of the Lord; let it be unto me according to thy word.”    She says, in essence “Yes!  And Amen!”

How often do we respond with such trust and faithfulness, understanding and accepting Christ as the ultimate “Yes” from God, who ensures our everlasting salvation?

Let it be.

2 Corinthians 1:20

Advent Meditation–X is for Christ

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In December 1963, it was of questionable taste to use styrofoam letters toothpicked together to spell out “Merry Xmas” in a family Christmas picture for our family Christmas cards.  Why the X?   Because we couldn’t get the whole word “Christmas” to hold together without collapsing into a mess of vowels and consonants.  We certainly tried.  So my dad made a special run back to the crafts store to buy an X so we could get this picture done while his three children were still spit combed, and polished clean.    I vaguely remember by mother being a bit reluctant to use the abbreviation “X” to represent “Christ” in Christmas, as she thought it might offend a relative or two as possibly disrespectful, but we did send this picture out to the 100+ people on her list, and I don’t recall any fall out.

It turns out there is good reason for the traditional “X” in XMAS, and it is not to make Christmas advertising more compact, using less expensive space.   It represents the first letter Chi of the name Christ in the Greek alphabet (Χριστός) and was used as an abbreviation for Christ (sometimes as below in the symbol known as the labarum, in combination with the “P” that represents the Greek letter “Rho”).  This was sometimes a secret communication device between Christians, and often displayed overtly in worship settings.  So the X is, in fact, a name for Christ, in shorthand.  There is no disrespect meant, but rather a way that religious community members could easily find each other in sometimes oppressive circumstances.

Now, 46 years after this photo was taken, it’s the styrofoam that causes offense, knowing it will never break down in landfills, and simply can’t be destroyed without causing environmental damage.  But the X representing Christ is here to stay.   It may offend those who do not acknowledge the reality of God who walked the earth, dying in our place,  broken in body only.  His truth and spirit rose again and cannot, will not ever be destroyed.

Advent Meditation–Wise Master Builder

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We are in the midst of the building of a garage next to our house–a project we have waited on for 15 years.  The plans were actually drawn a number of years ago, but there simply weren’t the resources available until now.

So the original plans were dusted off, updated, the builder selected and the project begun.  The ground has been smoothed and prepared, the foundation poured, now the walls and support beams are going up.  It all happens in a particular sequence, one step after another, so the building will be finished properly and safely.  To try to put up support beams and roof before a foundation is built would be foolish.  Likewise, a floor with no roof would soon become a pond.

There is a design, a plan, and a project underway by a Master Builder.  Thank goodness our lives are in steady hands with a good grip and a sharp eye for detail.

1 Corinthians 3:10

Advent Meditation–Vine

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watercolor by Janet Vanderhoof

There is something reassuring about knowing I’m attached and nurtured by something bigger, stronger, more deeply rooted and permanent.  There are times when I’m buffeted in the wind, beaten by the rain, burned by the hot sun, or crushed under the snow,  yet I’m unbroken because of the foundation I’m connected to.   I’m fed so I bear fruit that will nourish and sustain others.  My thirst is quenched so I can grow taller to provide shade and shelter.

To produce fruit is to fulfill the purpose for which I was created.   And so the vine can reach far beyond its root and trunk.

John 15:5

Advent Meditation–Unspeakable Gift

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Playing piano for over twenty years of Sunday School Christmas programs at our little church, I’ve watched a whole generation of children  go through the stages, starting as tiny angels with glitter garland halos, then shepherds in bathrobes and dishtowel head coverings, then finally to the more specialized roles of Mary, Joseph and the three kings.  The plywood manger is a bit more wobbly,  but the baby doll Jesus doesn’t mind.  The few years we’ve had a newborn baby from the congregation available for the program,  the manger remains a prop only,  since mangers are not exactly comfortable cribs for a 40 minute program.  Instead we choose a reliable strong-armed Mary, preferably a big sister, with mom staying close by in the front row.

Each year,  and tonight’s program was no different, there are surprises and unforgettable moments (tonight’s was the suddenly lit Christmas lights worn by the ‘head’ angel making the shepherds “sore afraid”–the look on their faces was priceless).    Unplanned moments aside, the annual Christmas program is meant to help children understand the most important Christmas gift they will ever receive.

The gift itself is said to be “indescribable”.   And it is “unspeakable”:  impossible to put into words that are adequate.   So we try, every year, with scripture readings, songs, and a humble pageant of Bible time characters, simply to open hearts.  It is the heart that will understand, even when the ears may not be able to hear.

photo by Julie Garrett http://herdinggrasshoppers.blogspot.com/

Advent Meditation–Tender Shoot

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I’m reminded every spring, as we break the soil in the garden for that season’s planting, how challenging is the job of the seed.  It is a plain, unadorned and ordinary thing, a little boring even, practically forgotten once it is placed in the ground.   Yet the ordinariness is only the outer dress; the extraordinary is contained inside, and within days a tender shoot braves all to come to the surface, bowed and humble. It establishes a root that ensures survival, even in the most inhospitable ground.

So it is with Jesus whose ordinary origins belied his holiness and majesty.   Hardy root and tender shoot, he reaches up to the heavens and deeply into the earth,  both at once.

And we will be fed.

Isaiah 53:2