Advent Readings From Outside The Box: Part 3

December 15

I was doing my ab workout the other day and the girls’ cat (pictured above) kept crawling on me.  I set her gently aside and continued.  When I got done and lay on the floor catching my breath, the cat climbed onto my abs and commenced to knead as cats are wont to do.  Ahhh, how sweet... until the claws started finding their way through my shirt!  I think Christmas is kind of that way: I love it until the materialism or the busyness and such give me a little jab of annoyance.  But maybe the real problem is I am letting the wrong things jab me.  The message of Christmas is love and hope but within it is also a jab: God is going to turn things upside down, bring down the mighty, uplift the lowly.  That doesn’t sound like a jab until I remember that I am one of the mighty in terms of wealth and privilege compared to much of the rest of the world.  Ouch!  

December 16

Mary got her heart broken twice.  Well, actually, knowing the way life goes it was probably more than that.  But, usually we think of Mary’s heart being broken when Jesus was crucified.  It seems to me her heart was broken at least once before that: when she became a mother.  Having a child breaks the hardness of your heart.  At least that is the way it seems to me.  Before my children were born I never cried unless someone died or something.  Now, all I have to do is go to one of my children’s programs and I am fighting off tears.  They make me so proud!  And it is not even just when my kids are up there.  The other kids doing well makes me tear up too.  For me having children opened my heart to a new kind of wonder, marveling at every thing they learn, the successes they have.  There is also the flip side, wanting to cry when they hurt, agonizing over their growing pains.  I don’t mean to say this is something reserved for people who have children either.  I think others have their hearts broken open by other experiences that open their hearts to whole new levels of compassion.  Because I am a prideful person, I will undoubtedly still fight like mad to keep the tears from showing on the outside.  Yet I am grateful for the depth my children have added to my life.  At Christmas we celebrate the child who broke Mary’s heart and who breaks our hearts open as well: expanding our compassion to include all people as Children of God.  

December 17

“How many times have you heard someone say — I can’t draw, I can’t sing, I can’t dance — with the case-closed authority of Solomon? Probably dozens of times, more if you yourself happen to be an artist blessed with the painting, flamenco, or woodworking gene. But have you ever heard anyone sheepishly confess, as they backed away palms up from an evergreen tree, Oh, not me — I can’t decorate Christmas trees?”  This is the opening to the blog post Christmas is a Time for Artistic Expression on the On Being blog.  I hadn’t really thought about it before but there are tons of opportunities to get a bit artsy at Christmas: decorating, festive baking, wrapping the presents to look just so.  Even if it is as simple as layering ingredients in a jar for one of those sand art baking mixes, we can all explore our creative side this time of the year.   The simple act of lighting a candle can be a way to express ourselves and give glory to God.   Don’t shy away from creative expression this season.  Let every act of creativity be a way of praising God for the abundance of beauty that surrounds us.

December 18

I have a special place in my heart for the shepherds.  This may have something to do with spending a good portion of my days tending furry, four legged, or feathered creatures.  Even as I write this I am continually finding bits of fluff clinging tenaciously to my face, my hands, my clothing.  I just finished grooming the rabbits.  It lifts my heart so much to think that the first to receive the Good News of Jesus’ birth were those who hefted hay, fleece and manure rather than those who leveraged power and money.  The king only heard rumors.  The shepherds were serenaded by angels.  

December 19

I don’t relate entirely to the shepherds.  I realize that in the scope of the world I am a person of privilege.  Perhaps today the angels would appear to factory workers or discount store employees.  The angels appeared to those doing the hard and un-heralded work.  This is the message of Christmas: God turning the world upside down, the divine entering the world in an infant, the message communicated first to the lowly.  I don’t know about you, but when I watch the news I think the world is so mixed up that upside down would be the only way to set us right.  

December 20

For all the shouting about the secularization of Christmas, I think sometimes the secular communicates the message of Christmas better than the Christians do.  For example, Charles Dickens’, “A Christmas Carol.”  According to Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol,  Dickens first set out to write a political pamphlet about the plight of poor children in his time.  He changed his mind and wrote “A Christmas Carol,” thinking it would be a more powerful way of communicating.   Standing up for the rights of children and the poor certainly seems closer to the true message of Christmas to me than “how dare you kill the meaning of Christmas by saying, ‘Happy Holidays!’”

December 21

I am totally cheating on this one.  I am going to ask you to provide me with inspiration instead of the other way around.  I volunteered to provide some music for our Christmas Eve service and have been trying to think of a song that is deeply meaningful and perhaps slightly unusual.  So, I ask you: What song would you most like to hear on Christmas Eve?  “The Christmas Can-Can” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” are not options.  Funny thoughts for in the midst of a candle light service, but not options.  For me, a Good Friday service is not complete without singing “Were You There?”.  Is there a Christmas equivalent for you?  Think of that song, hum it to yourself to get in touch with that deeper meaning of Christmas and then let me know what the song is.  Thanks for your help.  I await your comments and emails. 

Advent Readings From Outside The Box: Part 2

December 8

Oddly enough, I did not choose this picture because it looks like the airborne little goat has aspirations to pull Santa’s sleigh.  That was an amusing after thought.  I chose this picture because lately I have diverged from my Christmas music a bit to indulge in the Glee version of “Defying Gravity.”  I love this song.  I really want to see the musical Wicked from whence this song came.  I digress.  In relation to Christmas, this song makes me think that in some sense the incarnation is about God “defying gravity” for our sakes.  Jesus is God made flesh.  In Jesus, God is doing a new thing outside the normal progression of nature.  Supernatural becomes natural.  God becomes human.  Not the way it usually works.  God “defying gravity” because God loves us that much.  How cool is that?!

December 9

Sticking with the “Defying Gravity” theme, then we have Mary’s song, Luke 1:46-55 , which calls attention to how God’s ways defy the gravity of the ways of the world.  God’s ways are about looking with favor on the lowly, scattering the proud, bringing down the powerful, lifting up the lowly, filling the hungry and sending away the rich.  The gravitational pull of this world is that the rich are powerful and the hungry get hungrier.  God turns the ways of this world upside down and claims the poor as blessed.  God enters the world as a child claiming weakness and service as the way God is loose in the world.  God defies gravity working to bring forth the Kingdom of God and calls us to do the same.  Sing it with me now, “It’s time to try defying gravity....”

December 10

The Kingdom of God began breaking into the world in a new way through that baby in a manger.  This is what is exciting and meaningful to me about Christmas.  There are other things that I enjoy for sure.  But underneath it all is this resounding beat.  As we embarked upon the Christmas season, I wrote a prayer in A Prayer for the Christmas Season about this deep meaning that moves me so and prayed for Christmas to linger.  I am trying to maintain the spirit of that prayer throughout the season.  Then clanging onto the scene comes commercials, and buying, and arguing over the words we use to celebrate the season, etc.  I know I should not let this distract me but it is like trying to listen to a favorite song while someone in the next room whistles the Smurfs theme.  Not that there is anything wrong with Smurfs.  I love the Smurfs.  It’s just so distracting.  But that resounding beat is still there.  Listen.  Can you hear it?

December 11

It may not technically be winter yet but it’s cold.  And it’s dark.  And did I mention it’s cold and there isn’t much sunlight?  Don’t give me any lip about having complained mere months ago about the heat.  Having experienced months of 100 plus degree weather does not make my skin any more impervious to cold!  The animals’ water still freezes.  The wind still blows.  Interpret that last as you will.  Anyway, the point is this time of the year a celebration is sooo welcome.  I don’t know how it is in warmer climates. If you live there write me and tell about it.  But around here it’s cold and the hours of daylight are short.  So, while we need to be mindful of things like materialism, let’s occasionally give in to the festivities a bit.  Celebrate life and light in the midst of the darkness as you spend time with loved ones.  Crank up that Christmas music, dance off some of those Christmas candy calories, and just enjoy yourself for a bit.

December 12

I have had a revelation that will come as no surprise to many of my family members:  I should lighten up.  Sometimes I become so focused on trying to live my life in the way I should that I drive myself and my loved ones a little nutty.  This realization came to me as I researched toy companies to see from whom I could ethically buy toys for my children.  The options are limited and companies are strong in one area while being weak in another.  I was driving myself nuts trying to figure this all out.  Stressed Out Mommy is not a good present to give my children for Christmas.  So, I did the best I could and let it go on the rest.  Cut yourself some slack this Christmas.  I know this sounds like something you have heard many times before. But, my point is we are not all Martha Stewarts in pursuit of some allusive perfect Christmas and ways to make the house oh so pretty. Sometimes our busyness comes from trying to do good things like attending all our childrens' activities, working for charity, visiting folks who could use a good friend. But we need to remember that even Jesus took time off to pray and just be. Cut yourself some slack this Christmas. It will be a great present for your loved ones.  

December 13

Last week I wrote about people who are experiencing grief this time of the year.  As I reflected further on this topic I realized something: most of us are in a sense experiencing grief this time of year. Some are certainly experiencing grief more acutely and we need to hold those people in our hearts and prayers.  But, anyone who has experienced loss knows that grief lasts more than a year.  While we do become accustomed to our grief and the sharpness of it lessens, when holidays come around, even years later, the memories and the feelings stir our hearts.  I doubt that there are many who reach adulthood without knowing something about this.  My heart aches for those who learn about grief as children.   It seems too great a burden for little ones to bear and yet many of them do.  Let us pray for these young ones and let us not be afraid to share memories together of all those whom we are missing this Christmas.

December 14

My daughter asked me to sing her a short song at bedtime the other night.  So, I sang the first verse of “Away in a Manger”.  Then she said, “Isn’t there more to it than that?”  So, I sang another verse, the one that ends “I love thee Lord Jesus, look down from the sky, and stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.”  These words reminded me that this little baby in a manger is the same one whom we ask to stay near us, to guide us, to be at work in us.  This is the same one who died for us, who stands in solidarity with us when we suffer, who saves us.  I remember when my eldest child was born looking at her and wondering at who this little child would be.  At Christmas we celebrate the Christ child knowing who he will be.  What a precious gift.