December Twenty-Sixteen
"Strange,
isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he
leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?" –It’s a Wonderful Life
Joy-filled,
Giver of Life. Let the anticipation of your birth fill us with overflowing
joy. May our excitement and anticipation be a sign to the world that you
are always near. Amen
Like Advent itself, hope is not something we conjure up ourselves by wishful thinking. It’s not something we work at by focusing on the positive and avoiding the negative. It doesn’t spring from optimism that the world will get better by human effort. It’s rooted in the promise of God’s faithfulness…. Only because God comes to us can we go to God. Only because God comes to us can we have hope we can go to God. -George Mason
Jesus, you are constantly coming to your people even when we fail to see you. In each and every moment that we are blessed to see you here and now. Give us courage to leap with joy at your coming. Amen.
Longing for
light
we wait to see
you.
Longing for
truth
we turn to you.
Make us your
own,
your holy
people,
light for the world to see.
Advent is a
season in which we practice waiting; we wait for the coming of God. We need him
to come. Our world is messed up and we are messed up. We lament our condition
and long for God to set things right, to make us better. So we pray and watch
for signs of his presence… In the midst
of hardship and disappointment, we continue to wait. We wait in hope. We
believe that something is happening in our world, something is taking shape in
our lives, something large, light-filled and life-giving. Even in December’s
lengthening darkness, this seed of joyful hope grows within us. We are pregnant
with it. In our waiting, we are enlarged. God is coming! –Bobby Gross
Christmas is complicated. There's plenty wonderful about it, but for many the holidays can be downright painful. Mix equal parts difficult relationships, unmet expectations, the odd class of generosity and materialism, and a dose of uncomfortable post-election political conversations, and it's enough to make some consider bailing on the holiday altogether.
But wait a minute. Who said Christmas was supposed to make us comfortable in the first place? Just consider the multitude of heavenly awkwardness in the Nativity story: a teen pregnancy disrupting a small conservative community, a 'shotgun wedding' hastily arranged, foreign dignitaries showing up unannounced, an unexpected turn as political refugees. The list goes on. It seems that God wasn't concerned with preserving the short-term dignity of anyone- not even Jesus. No, Christmas hasn't ever been about comfort. But it is about grace. Grace that comes, not in spite of, but through the awkwardness. The grace of participating in a bigger Story where we are not in control. Grace that hurts, but eventually heals....
We hope you will join us in freshly embracing the awkward graces of God this Christmas season. When we step through the discomfort to love our own families well, welcome a stranger, raise awareness, or directly serve the vulnerable among us, we turn on a spigot of grace- both for them and for us. Like dancing, it may be awkward at first, but it can be a whole lot of fun! -Morgan Wills (year-end Christmas letter for Siloam Clinic)
Somehow I realized that songs, music, good feelings, beautiful liturgies, nice presents, big dinners, and many sweet words do not make Christmas. Christmas is saying "yes" to something beyond all emotions and feelings. Christmas is saying "yes" to a hope based on God's initiative, which has nothing to do with what I think or feel. Christmas is believing that the salvation of the world is God's work and not mine. Things will never look just right or feel just right. If they did, someone would be lying... But it is into this broken world that a child is born who is called Son of the Most High, Prince of Peace, Savior.
-Henri Nouwen The Road to Daybreak
Happy (almost) 2017!!
