N is for Noel

Noel is a word borrowed from French. The French word has its roots from Latin’s natalis, having to do with birth. Nativity is another birth-related word we hear around Christmas time. For practicing Christians, this makes all the sense in the world because Christmas is celebrating the birth of Christ. It’s easy for me to forget that things that to me, seem a given, aren’t necessary in the general consciousness of everyone.

I wonder sometimes about original meanings. Sometimes accepted meanings of words morph over time. And quite often the meaning of events shifts. I have been known to stand on my soapbox and declare THE REAL MEANING of things. In grade school my class was making a Christmas mural and I refused to participate. The scene depicted Santa and his reindeer flying across the sky on Christmas Eve. I told the teacher that wasn’t the REAL MEANING of Christmas. So after a brief conference with my parents, I was allowed to draw a manger scene underneath the sled.

How do we listen to one another for understanding when we don’t even share common understandings of what things mean? The most hotly debated issues in our society today often mean different things and different words are used to mean the same things. When does life begin? Can a human being be an “illegal”? Is a person a racist or do people do racist things? Is one quarantining or simply self-isolating?

All too often public discourse shapes the meaning of words we use in ways we are not intentionally conscious about. We are a word-oriented society in that we rely most heavily on words to communicate meaning. Being word-oriented is also an assumption of Christianity – especially Lutheran, western Christianity. In the beginning was the Word…

What does it look like to convey meaning in wordless sound? How does it feel to receive another through visual marks and colors? What do movements of one’s body evoke? What experience of the divine do we have when we sit together in silence?

Words matter. They also aren’t all there is. And they carry with them stories. What stories arise in you from Noel?

M is for Manger

It’s the evening of what promises to be a really big snowfall. Temperatures are plummeting into the teens. Schools have already called a full remote day for everyone tomorrow. And I just finished messaging a homeless young woman who has been sleeping in her car but is leery of the coming weather. How did she find herself in this situation? How can this be?

Jesus was not born in a place of proper shelter. He was born in a manger, among the livestock. Why didn’t his parents plan ahead and set off on their journey sooner? Did the innkeeper have no heart? Wouldn’t another family take them in or even give up their bed for this pregnant woman? Was Joseph on the outs with his family of origin and not able to stay with them? How can this be?

Too often in the midst of what seems to be an unbearable situation and we look for either blame or ways to fix it. There must be some reason they are in this situation right? If not, how could this be happening? How can the world be so broken as to let a young woman sleep in her car in a snowstorm (so close to Christmas especially!)? What does it mean than a young woman had to give birth to a baby among the livestock (especially the son of God)? How can this be?

These questions arise out of sense of discomfort. The world does not match they way we think it should be. Our reptilian brains which are triggered by this sense of danger cause us to fight, flee or freeze. We look for who to blame or how to fix the problem. We ignore it and try not to think about it. We feel stuck.

Let us consider another way we can respond. Think of it as our mammalian brains. The warm blooded animals in the manger that night likely helped to keep the holy family a little warmer. The pictures present them as peacefully coexisting with this new human life. We don’t know how it was, but I do know how my warm blooded animals respond. They are great listeners. They are content just to curl up next to me. Even if they don’t actually do much, it’s a comfort to have them around. When they are not there, their presence is missed.

In a manger, surrounded by warm blooded animals, this child was born. In a motel, supported by kind strangers, I pray that the presence of the Christ child is keeping this young woman company.

L is for Love

Last month I wrote in my council report how I continue to be amazed and grateful for this small but mighty group of Christians who call themselves Shepherd of the Valley. You are open to trying new things (or old things in new ways) as well as considering things from different perspectives. You are willing and eager to consider the needs of the community outside of ourselves as you also support one another.

This one way we express our love for one another. And I go on to tie this in with being led by love, in contrast to being driven by fear:

“I receive important feedback from you when you reflect back things that we ‘ve discussed in worship or in some small group gathering… I’m appreciative of how we have been engaging in challenging conversations about our current book about compassion. I’ve been reminded from several sources that this work is about slowing down and listening. In the midst of a world filled with anxiety and longing for the way things used to be, our invitation is to be present in the present. Our tendency can be to look ahead – planning to accomplish things. The tension of holding past and future in the present is what enlivens the Spirit in us. How, you ask, does one do this? A few possibilities: Remember to resist the messages that attempt to drive us with fear. Ask God in prayer where we are being led in love. Look for Christ in our midst right now. 

K is for Kindness

While it’s always the right time for kindness, the Advent and Christmas season seems to be when our secular culture is a little more in line with Christian culture. I don’t mean to set up a dichotomy between the two, but there is something about being a Christ follower which sometimes puts us at odds with fitting in to the dominant culture.

Of course there are always exceptions. We find kind people all year round – some of whom aren’t even Christian! And there are the scrooges of the world – this pastor can tend towards that direction, especially concerning the commercial and sentimental aspects of Christmas. So, like most of life, not everything fits into neat little packages. (Except for hedgehogs)

Kindness is received and shared in different ways. What you think might be an act of kindness might wind up not being received that way. So if you try to do something kind and receive feedback that someone experienced it differently, the kind thing to do is to listen and learn. And if someone does something that irritates or frustrates you, perhaps it was that person’s effort to be kind. May our prayer be that God might guide our actions. And that we listen. Listening, after all, can be the greatest act of kindness.

J is for Journey

The image of journey is deep in the spiritual life. We journey metaphorically and we journey physically. Of course Mary and Joseph, along with throngs of others, were on a journey. They were returning to their hometown from far off places. It was clearly an arduous trip, especially for a very pregnant woman. And then, to finally arrive and have no place to settle in… not a fun journey.

This time of year is when many people are taking trips back to their hometowns. Or at least to their home-people. Yet this year, not so much. At least we hope. We are in the midst of a journey now as a people. Only we are not going anywhere. At least physically. My prayer is that we are journeying deep into our spiritual lives.

Your journey might be one from the head to the heart. Perhaps it’s scoping out the land and seeing that all of life is spiritual. What kind of practices, routines, activities or escapes are part of your life that keeps you connected to that which is bigger than just you? When it feels like you might be going in circles, consider that a spiral is circular but it goes deeper. There are more and more layers of who we are and how we understand the world and its creator. I invite you to be a companion on the journey!

I is for Incarnation

One reason I join the group studying the Greek New Testament most Friday mornings is because I love words. I love making connections between words. It’s great fun to learn and think about the roots of words. Etymology as the study of the history of words and evolution of language can be a source of great insight into how cultures make meaning. When I consider particularly theological words, I like to break them down if possible. In seminary one learns all sorts of big words for things that, on their own, just sound pretentious. We don’t often use the words ontology, epistemology or eschatology in everyday conversation. But the way I remembered what these words meant was to break them down; “ology” relates to the study of something. “Onto” = being, “epistem” = knowing, “eschat” = end times.

Incarnation breaks down into “in” and “carnation” (not the flower). Carnation comes from “carne” or flesh. So incarnation simply can mean “in the flesh.” In the person of Jesus Christ we experience God in the flesh. We humans have the need for things we can touch, see, hear, taste and smell. God as an abstract idea doesn’t capture us. God as something we can touch, see, hear, taste and smell grabs us with all of our being.

In these days when we are so limited to who we can see in the flesh, it can be hard to remember that we have been grabbed by God in Christ. We have not tasted God around the communion table or smelled God in the coffee and baked goods of fellowship time in way too long. Yet Christ’s body – the church – continues to draw us in through our other senses. Sometimes we may individually lack a particular function of our bodies. This point in time the body of Christ doesn’t have full function of our whole body. Taking the long view though, across space and time, we see the whole picture of God in the flesh.

Experience parts of God’s body across the country though this collection of Advent video devotionals: https://videoadvent2020.tumblr.com/ (December 3 entry is done by me!)

H is for Hallelujah!

A is for Angel

I found the letters from last year! Well, at least the ones that were completed. It was fun to look back on them and remember all of the people involved in decorating them. Here’s a gallery of the letters we have that I missed this year so far!

B is for Bethlehem
E is for Exhausted
G is for Good News
F is for Family

G is for gratitude

Gratitude candle | Etsy
What are you grateful for?

View Post

Most nights, before I start to read to my (now almost 10 year old) daughter, I ask her, “What are you grateful for?” I hope that this almost daily practice of expressing gratitude sets a solid foundation for her faith life. We don’t do a lot of the typical practices of “saying your prayers” at bedtime. She can probably recite the Lord’s Prayer along with others, but I don’t know if she knows it by heart. The book we always read at bedtime for her first 4 or 5 years was The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton. Nothing particularly theological about it. The lullaby I sang was to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me” but I started singing it with the words “Mommy loves you, this you know, because Daddy tells you so” and “Daddy love you, this you know, because Mommy tells you so.” Eventually I added the words of the serenity prayer and then finally the words “Jesus loves you.”

It is this practice of gratitude that I hope will make a difference and stick with her. Her list tends to be pretty much the same night to night, beginning of course with the dog. But is also offers an opportunity to reflect on the day. Sometimes she surprises me with what she mentions. Recently, she has begun asking me what I am grateful for as well. This prayerful conversation is a way to remember God’s active presence in our lives. I invite you to try this practice during the Advent season and beyond.

What are you grateful for? Share your response in the comments below!

F is for Fear

There’s plenty to be afraid of. That may be the understatement of the year at the end of 2020. Illness, violence, hatred, unrest, war, isolation. Nothing new really. Just coming at us all at once in a magnified way. There has always been plenty to be afraid of.

Mary had plenty to be afraid of. Unplanned pregnancy. Lack of shelter. Political unrest. Being chosen to bear God in flesh. She was probably afraid. But by sitting with the fear, taking a moment to be with the feelings, she was able to move through it. It’s not that there’s nothing to be afraid of. Rather, God With Us enables us to move through the fear.

The words of the angels : Fear not! can sound like a command, something that requires our efforts to overcome the fear. They can sound like a denial of reality. But maybe it’s more like “Fear need not have a grip on you.” Perhaps try just feeling the fear. Know God is with us. As you feel the fear with another, sometimes it melts away. We can share our fears with God incarnate – the body of Christ – the community that God forms. Then we might discover that the fear has dissipated. That we need not fear.

E is for Emmanuel

Emmanuel is most often translated from Hebrew into English as “God With Us.” Who is this God who is with us? Who is this God who does the unthinkable and becomes human so that we might share all of what it means? We say it is the God who saves. Saves us from what? Saves us how?

The God With Us comes down. This God is willing to experience the same suffering, confusion, despair and questions that plague humanity. God With Us does not save us by removing them, but by being with us in them. This the God of compassion. This is the One who we now are – the body of Christ. Jesus was the Christ. Now we are Christ’s body together, collectively, as community joined together by God With Us.