What a wonderful day of worship where we ordained and installed our new class of Ruling Elders and Deacons! This afternoon and evening we have been preparing for the arrival of family.
Yet as I reflect this evening on the Holy Day which approaches, my heart is heavy. It is heavy because I know that for many this will not be a special day. Children are hungry… families struggle to keep a roof over their heads or to find shelter for the night… many around this world live in violence-torn war zones…
While our stockings are hung by the chimney with care, many don’t even have socks for their feet. My prayer is with all who suffer this and every night.
These words of Thomas Merton ring true to my heart: I believe that, where the Lord sees the small point of poverty, extenuating, helplessness… He himself cannot refuse to enter this anguish, to take flesh in it so to speak, making it instantly a small seed of infinite joy and peace and solitude in the world. (Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander)
So as we enter into this holy season, may we never forget that ALL of God’s children, our family, is wrapped in the arms of our loving God.
First Reading – Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Second Reading – Isaiah 7:10-16
Sermon – An Invitation to Transformation: Finding Christ Within
A touching and heartfelt post…
Ah, Christmas! Bright lights, hustle and bustle, joyous music and celebrations….
Yet, hidden behind all the glitter, many people feel the pangs of sadness and loneliness more acutely during the Christmas season.
— Read on godspacelight.com/2019/12/22/the-light-of-life-shines-into-the-darkness-of-death/
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
Thank you for a time of reflection and silence
Thank you for an evening of worship
A time for silence and tears
A time to contemplate and Be Still
As Christmas and the New Year approach
Center my spirit Lord
May I listen for your heartbeat
May I listen for your voice
May I hear your call
Now as my eyelids grow heavy
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
When we seek Christ within ourselves, the transformation can be amazing. In order to do so, we must be willing to Be Still. As we were walking along the path to Lake Estes we came across the local herd. Watching them decide how to get on the golf course was interesting. Some chose to go to the opening after trying to jump. Others, like this Elk, decided to take the leap of faith.
This Advent season has truly been a Pilgrimage for me. As I have studied the passages from Isaiah and the Psalmist and as I have journeyed with Howard Thurman and Thomas Merton in my blog, it certainly has been a blessing. In the midst of the season’s busy-ness I have been able to find some moments of quiet and solitude. For those moments I am truly thankful.
Both Isaiah and the Psalmist are speaking to the hearts of a people who are in exile. They speak to hearts that are weary and wondering. They speak to hearts that are lonely and afraid. They speak to a people who seek inner as well as outer transformation. While the Isaiah passage speaks of God’s frustration with God’s people, Hope is offered.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. (Isaiah 7:14-15)
They had no clue how it was going to happen. They only knew that the one whom Isaiah foretold would be the instrument of transformation for the people walking in darkness.
Three times the Psalmist says: Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved. (Psalm 80:3, 17, 19) Three times the Psalmist asks on behalf of the people to be saved. This concept of being saved is far more than the four spiritual steps and saying the sinners prayer. This salvation is so much more than that. This salvation is about the transformation of the individual and an entire people.
This transformation is a huge part of the call to serve the Lord. For once we find the Christ within, this gift is not one to be hoarded. It is a gift to be shared. This reminds me of a song written and recorded in in 1969 at the height of the anti-war movement. The song is One Tin Soldier. Here is the link for the video: The Original Cast – One Tin Soldier
The lyrics truly speak to and pierce my heart.
Listen people to a story
That was written long ago,
’bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley folks below.
On the mountain was a treasure
Hidden deep beneath a stone,
And the valley people swore
They’d have it for their very own.
So the people of the valley
Sent a message up the hill,
Asking for the buried treasure
Tons of gold for which they’d kill.
Came the answer from the kingdom,
With our brothers we will share,
All the riches of the mountain,
All the treasure buried there.
Now the valley cried with anger,
Mount your horses, draw your swords
And they killed the mountain people,
So they won their just rewards
Now they stood before the treasure
On the mountain dark and red
Turned the stone and looked beneath it
Peace on earth, was all it said.
Peace on earth, was all it said… that treasure of peace could have transformed the relationship between the Valley and the Mountain folk. As we continue the journey towards the celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace dear reader, may we be open to that transformation. May we find Christ within us. A favorite line from the Northumbria Community’s Celtic Daily Prayer (Morning Prayer) speaks to this transformation.
This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.
Are you willing, dear reader, to allow such a transformation to occur within your heart and your life? Are you willing to see Christ within yourself and your neighbor? Can you imagine the transformation that could be possible?
Tonight marks the Winter Solstice and the beginning of Winter. It is the longest night of the year and the ancient Celtic people considered it to be the beginning of their New Year. After tonight the days will begin to grow longer. I remember during my time in England how stark the contrast was between Winter and Summer. Darkness and Gloom slowly gave way to Light and Brightness.
Tonight, as we near the end of the Advent Season of Pilgrimage, we hosted our fourth-annual Blue Christmas Service. Blue Christmas is a quiet, reflective service for those who are grieving, lonely, sad, not feeling particularly festive or just in need of a time of quiet in the busy-ness of the season. As my colleagues from the Estes Park Interfaith Alliance and I led worship it was a sacred time in a sacred space. People were invited to light candles and lift up names or circumstances in prayer. Being able to light candles was a tangible way to offer up prayer. There were so many names that Denise and I alone lifted up. So many beloved friends and family who have slipped the bonds of this earthly existence. They and their families continue to be treasured in our hearts and our memories.
Tomorrow is the last Sunday in Advent and two days later it will be Christmas Eve. As this Advent Pilgrimage winds down, I am thankful for the opportunities to Be Still in the midst of it all.
Merton says the following in his poem, In Silence.
Be still
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
To speak your
Name.
Listen
To the living walls.
Who are you?
Who
Are you? Whose
Silence are you?
….Oh be still, while
You are still alive,
And all things live around you
Speaking (I do not hear)
To your own being,
Speaking by the Unknown
That is in you and in themselves…
It is only by being still that we can truly hear the voice and feel the heartbeat of God. This has been my challenge and pilgrimage this Advent season.
Finally, Howard Thurman joins Thomas Merton in my heart, my reading, and my reflection. From his book, The Mood of Christmas, comes the following:
Our little lives, our big problems–these we place upon Thy altar!
…War and the threat of war has covered us with heavy shadows,
Making the days big with forebodings–
The nights crowded with frenzied dreams and restless churnings.
We do not know how to do what we know to do.
We do not know how to be what we know to be.
Our little loves, our big problems–we place upon Thy altar!
As we light the candles
As we simply pause and Be Still
May we feel God’s heartbeat within us and hear God’s voice calling to us.
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
Thank you Lord, for the blessings of this day
For friends, for family, for love
For wonderful celebrations of dance
For new friends and for old friends
For the blessings of this holy season
For all of these gifts I thank you, Lord
Now as my eyelids grow heavy
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
Tonight we attended the performance of Act 1, Scene 1 (The Party) of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite at the church. Two very dear friends of ours are co-directors and creators of Ballet Renaissance which is a non-profit that seeks to teach and mentor young kids in our community through dance. It was truly a wonderful blessing of this Holy Season of anticipation.
It was such a blessing in the midst of so much turmoil and unrest in this country and world. Despite headlines and hatred, these children shared the true beauty of the dance. It was almost as if the children were inviting us into the joy of the cosmic dance which Thomas Merton talked about. To quote further, he said — Indeed, we are in the midst of it {the Cosmic Dance} and it is in the midst of us, for it beats in our very blood, whether we want it to or not.
As we approach Christmas, there is so much going on. In the midst of preparations we can lose sight of the true meaning of this season. Tonight the children helped us to remember the simple joy of this season as they invited us to join in the Cosmic Dance.
Merton is joined in my reflection by Howard Thurman. He says the following in his book The Mood of Christmas — There is a strange irony in the usual salutation of “Merry Christmas,” when most of the people on this planet are thrown back upon themselves for food which they do not possess, for resources that have long since been exhausted, and for vitality which has already run its course. Despite this fact, Christmas symbolizes hope even at a moment when Hope seems utterly fantastic. The raw material of the Christmas mood are a newborn baby, a family, friendly animals, and labor.
The children and adults who danced tonight reminded me of the hope, joy, and beauty of this season. For this I am truly thankful.
“The Winter Solstice is another profound moment of pause and turning in the great cycle of the year…One of the great gifts [of the season] is watching the sun make her pilgrimage across the horizon from summer solstice to winter solstice. It is quite a long journey, and on December 21st she will rest at her point furthest south, appearing to stand still for three days before making the return journey again in the long walk toward summer. It is a rhythm of journey, pause, and return, again and again.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD Sacred Seasons: A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year – A Self-Study Online Retreat
Thank you, Jake!
God was born.
Just let that sink in. The architect of galaxies and protons, the maker of hard iron and tender flesh, the infinite, all-powerful source from which all things come to be and upon which the entire cosmos depends, became a human. And God did it just like the rest of us did.
— Read on jakeowensby.com/2019/12/20/discovering-jesus-midwife/
