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he saw what
many missed,
patiently
waiting,
hoping
for revelation's
promised unveiling,
he saw
love creep in
unheralded now
by angels,
love in simple
vulnerability
offering
life
to all...
she saw too,
and her heart broke at the
giveness before her,
a blessing
and a sword,
and the Spirit was strong
with them,
the blessing
was given
and to all who receive it
life!
Picture; God is now here by Tim
how does this song sing on,
weaving gentle
yet insistent melodies
drawing
light from darkness,
joy from sorrow,
bringing healing
in the midst of pain..?
and how does a song sing on
calming the storm
when the storm rages
again and again?
and how does this melody
ever ancient, ever new
call chaos to order
and re-order?
and why does the singer
keep on singing
as problems surface
emerging and re-emerging?
+
Her name is wisdom,
and she knows time from times end,
her name is light,
and she will not be overcome,
her name is love,
and she will not give up,
and so she sings
through the day,
through the night,
her name is hope,
her hope; that
we will learn and join
her song...
I don't like Christmas,
God comes close,
it holds too many bad memories,
God comes close,
too many hurts, too many sorrows,
God comes close,
I will be alone,
God comes close,
I'll be hungry,
God comes close,
I'll be afraid,
God comes close,
God comes close,
frail,
vulnerable,
needy,
naked,
bloodied,
bruised,
and crying,
God comes close,
God comes close,
and lights
the world,
with love....
time rolls on, and
from darkness to light,
we turn,
and in the turning
we embrace life
afresh, as her possibilities
stir unseen
below the surface of the earth
and in our lives,
these ebbs and flows,
these seasons
of contemplation and celebration
call us to
remember creations rythms,
of renewal,
and rest,
the year rolls on,
and from darkness to light
we turn....
Everything that was created
received the words creation light
and creation light gave life gave light
to everyone.
The light keeps shining
in the dark,
and darkness has never
put it out.
(John 1: 4-5- my interpretation)
Today I told the Christmas story, not to children but to adults, and it wasn't the nice clean sanitised tinsel adorned version. I told it to and with a group of folk who come to "The Comfort Zone" , a drop in for those who are homeless or struggling to make ends meet in bed-sit land. They didn't sit quietly and meekly listening, but chipped in with thoughts and questions as we struggled to piece together how this might be good news for them. The story took on a gritty reality as we considered a God who would come to the poor and the outcast, one telling remark was that a stable would be better than a park bench- he had a point.
After we'd told the story we sang a couple of carols ( requested ones) and I offered folk the chance to make a prayer by lighting a candle, and taking one with them to light on Christmas Day if they wanted to. Many did so, most taking time in the quiet to think and pray as they lit their candles and stood to p0nder them quietly for a moment before moving away. Earlier in the morning they'd received gifts of gloves scarves and socks but to one man the candle was the most precious thing he had received- he spoke of how he'd light it on Christmas Day and what it would mean to him. It was not a neat and tidy Carol Service, I was humbled by it, and somehow Christmas became more real for me this year because of it.
into our doubt
and despair,
into our sorrow
and pain,
into our souls
deepest darkness,
when all seems lost
and heaven silent,
hope's song
begins,
softly,
softly and gently
she woos us
and bids us turn
to the light,
softly and gently
she holds us,
softly and gently
she leads us,
softly and gently
she waits with us
for all to be made new..
Koder's Woman at the Well
into the desert
places
of my
soul, wild words
echo, prepare,
prepare, awake
prepare,
life and light
are drawing near
heavens gentle
kiss of love
is earthward bound,
open your eyes,
see the God
revealing
signs all about you,
prepare, prepare,
awake prepare,
a new thing begins,
even today,
look, listen,
the desert places
erupt with blooms
and shouts of joy!
prepare, prepare,
awake, prepare.
Like many others I suspect I found myself wanting to slow down and reflect during the season of Advent but also pulled at what seems an ever increasing speed towards Christmas. So far I have completed three speaking engagements this week, and am heading towards the week of wall to wall Carol Services, oddly I find in my new context that I am not preaching or presiding on Christmas Eve which I find particularly sad because the mid-night service is one of my favourites...
That said I am challenged this advent season not to make the coming celebrations my focus, but rather to focus upon not only the Second Coming of Christ but to see the signs of the kingdom as being revealed amongst us. I find myself encouraging folk to reconnect in a deep way with the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives strengthening and empowering, comforting and guiding. To celebrate each "a ha" moment as a sign of God incarnate amongst us and within us, and to listen for his still small voice....
I find myself focusing beyond the manger and the cross ( not denying their importance) and even the resurrection right into the holy of holies in heaven where Jesus intercedes for us. I find myself drawn to remember the journey of his work within me, and to wonder at the fact that although I am still a mess and a muddle that has worked and continues to do a work of transformation within me, and I have told that story in different ways this week.
To be honest I find that God is speaking to my vulnerabilities in a fresh and wonderful way, he is reminding me that I am loved, that I am named precious and honoured in his sight, that I have been called, blessed and sent. I find myself challenged to find Christ at work within me and as I do I find his human givenness and vulnerability in the manger and on the cross, and his glorious resurrected and ascended strength and power going hand in hand. I find myself invited to love and accept myself in a fresh way knowing that love comes from him, and I find that I am challenged to share the depth of that love as I speak and share.
So what is going on? I think that I am finding my Advent observation being re-focused, instead of focusing on Christmas only I am called to look to the future but within, to sense the coming of Christ through God revealing signs and to long for more. I spent too many years trying to what I thought God wanted me to be, and what others wanted me to be ( or what I thought they wanted), as I find him at work in me I realise that none of this matters, what matters is that he loves me just as he loves all that he has made and that the time is coming when all WILL see that this is so...
I've run out of words now so I'll leave you with this:
Advent is here, with it’s themes of
watching and waiting, watching, waiting, and preparing, we are called to watch,
to watch and to wait, to be aware of the signs of the coming kingdom, to look
for its unveiling. But I wonder how many
of us are good at watching and watching and waiting, how many of us take the
time to read the signs? I suspect that it is all to easy to get bowled away by
the busyness that surrounds us, to bow to the demands of a world that seems to
live at an ever increasing pace, a world where watching and waiting has gone
largely out of fashion…
Lets face it we live in a world of the instant, of instant coffee, of e-mail, of internet shopping, of jet travel, of credit and more, a world where waiting is almost unnecessary! I wonder how many of us have become frustrated sitting in a traffic jam or waiting for a bus or train, we don’t want to wait, we want to get on with what we are doing….
And yet some of the best things come from waiting, waiting for that first ripe strawberry or tomato grown in your garden, resisting the temptation to pick it until it is perfectly ripe because you know the taste will outstrip anything grown in the supermarket.
Waiting for a baby to be born, a son or daughter a grandchild, niece or nephew, a child that mostly won’t be hurried into this world, a child whose arrival you will celebrate with great joy, a child who will be welcomed. All of the signs of the child’s arrival are apparent, just as the ripening fruit on the fig tree emerges and the farmer prepares for the harvest so the parents prepare for the arrival of the child…
Advent calls us to be aware of the God signs all around us, the signs of hope, of love, of joy and peace, of restoration and celebration, of wholeness and of healing and we need to begin to see them, to welcome them and to celebrate them as they appear in others and in ourselves. Advent calls us to the truth, that the kingdom of heaven is near, the day is coming when God will move among us making all things new.
I wonder if we grasp quite what that means, I wonder if we ever have our eyes unveiled enough to glimpse what Jesus was talking about, I wonder as we prepare for Christmas if we can grasp afresh the wonder that God came amongst us. God in Christ leaving the glories of heaven to be born in human flesh, God vulnerable and fragile; God accompanied by signs and miracles that only the shepherds and Magi saw…
And so God moves amongst us now, God the Holy Spirit bringing us to life with the wonder of love poured out upon us, in us and through us, and advent calls us to respond to the Spirits stirrings both within and around us, to open our eyes to see the signs of the kingdom breaking through…
To look for signs of the return of the Son of man who the gospel reading tells us will come on a cloud with power and great glory….
Jesus paints for us a terrible picture, of confusion and foreboding of the heavens being shaken, the parallel passage in Matthew speaks to us of wars and rumours of wars, wars, earthquakes, waves and signs in the sky it might be that we see all of these things on our TV screens every night, and often this is not fiction it is the daily news….
But Jesus does not tell us to quake and tremble with fear, no, he calls us to be strong, to stand tall, to hold our heads up high, for the kingdom of God is being revealed, and it is being revealed among us. It is revealed when we show love, love for God, love one for another, and love for the stranger. It is revealed in acts of mercy and kindness small and great, in acts of sacrifice as we choose to put others first, it is revealed as we trust in Jesus, receiving his strength, his power, his patience, his love, joy and peace.
Listen again to Paul’s prayer from 1 Thessalonians the passage we have just heard read;
…may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Advent calls us to pray and to watch, to watch and to wait for signs of the increase of the kingdom amongst us, and as his church that means that we must be those who live and act by the power of the Holy Spirit, that we become those signs as we lift our heads to receive his promises, and that might well mean being willing to take a stand for justice, being willing to give of ourselves for the sake of others…
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, remembering the God who became incarnate amongst us lets us also look for signs, lets us recognise and celebrate signs of the God who is incarnate within us by His Spirit, the God who calls us to live and to act according to his good purpose, the God who fills our lives with his colours and his flavours and makes his presence known through us.
Here is the miracle of the Christian message, that the God who came as a tiny babe at Christmas, is the God who was crucified, died and buried for our sake, and is also the God who was raised again triumphant on the third day. This God, this Jesus has promised the gift of the Spirit to all believers, and in the power of the Spirit we can lift our heads high no matter what our circumstances, no matter what national statistics might say, no matter what the news or sore condition of our hearts…
He calls us today to trust him, to look to him, to hope in him, he has made the way for us to do this through the gift of his son, the ultimate gift, given in love, by love, for we are loved fully and completely, so completely that he looks upon us as signs of his kingdom, sealed by the Spirit, holy and blameless, precious and honoured, redeemed and forgiven, inheritors of the kingdom to come ambassadors of grace…
This year then, as we prepare for Christmas let us be those who celebrate not only the God who came, but the God who is continually with us, the God who dwells within us and calls us to hear his voice, to follow him, to prepare the way for the kingdom of heaven IS near.
Picture; Blessed Ones by Tim
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