by Lilly Lewin
The entire Christmas story is about Interruptions….
In the beginning of Luke’s gospel, Zechariah and Elizabeth had their lives interrupted…by an angel, which means nine months of silence and a baby born to two elderly parents. And even with the joy of having a child after so many years of being barren, and shamed by the lack of a baby, they had to be willing to allow God to tell them how this child should be raised. Not as a good Jewish son at home, but in the wilderness eating bugs and honey. A prophet.
Next, Mary had the ultimate interruption. An angel, a promise and a willingness to say yes to God’s plan above her own. Both Mary and Joseph allowed God to interrupt and intercept all they’d hoped and dreamed about for their lives together! Their entire lives were upended by the announcement of the angel that Jesus was on the way.
And later the Shepherds, minding their own business in the fields, were interrupted by the announcement of the Angels that a child had been born in Bethlehem. A child who would change not only their lives, but the lives of the entire world! They immediately leave their fires and their hillside camp and hurry to see the babe in Bethlehem that the angels have sung about.
Do you experience frustrating interruptions too? I hate interruptions! Even though my life is full of them, I’m learning to accept them.
I used to say that the person who works at a church, especially the admin of a dept, or the admin of the church itself, their first gift needs to be the gift of interruption.
Someone is always popping by the office in need of something, even if it’s just “to talk” to someone, and usually the people who call, or walk in, do not have appointments. But we have to deal with it, right? But what if the interruptions ARE the story. Because it seems that The entire Christmas story is about Interruptions…and how people respond to these “God-gifts” of interruption!
How about you? How do you feel about interruptions?
Do you receive interruptions as irritations, or can you see them as Gifts?
Are we willing to receive the “Gift of Interruption” this Advent? This Christmas?
Are we willing to allow God to interrupt our plans, our ways, our hopes,
And even our dreams?
Are we willing to be willing?
Are we willing daily to have God interrupt what we had planned?
What about us? Are we ….
Willing to leave our comfort zones? Willing to go where God sends us? Willing to listen to dreams …. God’s dreams, not just our own? Willing to change plans in mid-course?
I’m so bad at this…I want what I want, and I want it now!
I like change on paper, but it is much harder to live out in real life. I too often want to make my own path, and not trust Jesus for his plan.
Allowing God to direct our paths means we control freaks have to LET GO, and give control over to the One who can see beyond tomorrow, completely!
In 12 step programs we agree to be “willing to be willing.” Can we agree to be “willing to be willing” to allow Jesus to interrupt us, and direct us this Advent and Christmas?
Can we be willing to be willing to receive the gift of interruptions?
What do you need to do in your life today, this week, this season to receive the gift of interruption?
What areas of your life are being interrupted in order for you to prepare him room? Are you willing to see these interruptions as gifts rather than curses?
In what areas of your life do you need to have faith in order to Believe, to Go to go where he sends you…to go to Bethlehem?
Today I need to repent because I’m so not ready to obey…
I’m so bossy and think my ideas are better, and I am so unwilling to be interrupted, or to acknowledge that the interruption is from Jesus.
The beautiful thing about Advent is that God has the map! God knows the way to Bethlehem, and even beyond to Egypt! God plans ahead and knows the bits that will scare us to death. God just wants us to be willing to be willing! God wants us to have the faith to Go where God sends us, and to see the adventure in the interruptions.
As we light the third candle in our Advent Wreath this weekend, the candle of Joy, let’s practice receiving joy in the Gift of Interruption.
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As a helpful reminder, put a gift bow somewhere you will see it daily….beside your bed, on the dash of your car, or on the mirror in your bathroom. Let the gift bow remind you to receive the gifts of God, even the interruptions as gifts from Jesus.
And, as you wrap presents, pray for each person to receive the gift of Jesus this Christmas and ask Jesus to help you receive the gifts he has for you this Advent season, even the gift of interruption!
Advent is half over. We still wait for the arrival of the Christ child. But to where will we welcome him? Do we really want him taking up residence in our homes or is easier to relegate him to the stable, to see him as an outsider, not really part of the family? Seeing Jesus in an out of the way place where disreputable people like shepherds can come to worship without us having to worry about them messing up our homes makes life easy for us. We get that glow that tells us Jesus is here but there is very little commitment required of us.
According to New Testament theologian Kenneth Bailey in his wonderful book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Middle Eastern cultures are known for their hospitality and Joseph was coming home with a new wife and an expected first child so there is no way they would have been relegated to the stable. The whole family was gathering, aunts and uncles, cousins and brothers and sisters. All of them coming home. Yes there was a census that brought them together but in a fun loving culture like this it would not have diminished the welcome or the excitement of a homecoming gathering. The expectation of a baby to be born in their midst would only have increased the excitement.
As Kenneth Bailey explains, the Greek word (katalyma or kataluma) translated as inn in Luke 2:7 does not mean a commercial building with rooms for travelers. It’s a guest space, typically the upper room of a common village home.
“A simple village home in the time of King David, up until the Second World War, in the Holy Land, had two rooms—one for guests, one for the family. The family room had an area, usually about four feet lower, for the family donkey, the family cow, and two or three sheep. They are brought in last thing at night and taken out and tied up in the courtyard first thing in the morning.
“Out of the stone floor of the living room, close to family animals, you dig mangers or make a small one out of wood for sheep. Jesus is clearly welcomed into a family home,” See the entire article here
It was to this simple village home that the shepherds and wise men alike came. Shepherds despised and regarded as unclean by their society, are visited by angels and invited to join the great home coming celebration that marks the coming of the child who will become the Messiah. That they were welcomed and not turned away from this home is remarkable. This is good news indeed for the outcast and the despised.
Then the wise men come, according to Bailey, rich men on camels, probably from Arabia. And they come not to the city of Jerusalem where the Jews thought God’s glory would shine, but to the child born in a manager around whom there is already a great light. The wise men come to find a new home, a new place of belonging that has beckoned to them across the world. This too is remarkable and good news for people of all nations who long for a place to call home.
Bailey tells us that the birth stories of Jesus “de-Zionize” the Messianic traditions. Hopes and expectations for the city of Jerusalem are fulfilled in the birth of the child Jesus. (p54).
The new family, the community that will be formed around this child, does not look to the earthly Jerusalem as its home, but to the heavenly Jerusalem which will come down from heaven as a gift of God at the end of history. (Revelation 21:1-4). And it is to this home, a place with no more tears, or oppression or starvation that all of us are beckoned by the birth of Christ.
I love this imagery. Even in the birth of Jesus we are called towards a new family and a new home. There are family and friends and animals. And special invitations by angels for the despised and rejected, and a star to guide the strangers and those who seem far off. The new family and the home envisioned in the birth of Jesus is inclusive of all accept God’s invitation.
What will it take for us to really welcome Jesus into our homes this Christmas season?
Let’s recognize Jesus as a part of our family.
I have friends who always leave an empty chair at the dinner table when they hold a festive meal. It is a symbol of the fact that Jesus is the unseen guest at all our meals, the family member who is always present even when we cannot see him. It makes me wonder if at this time of year we should set up the manager in the centre of our dining room tables in preparation for the birth of a baby into our families, a constant reminder that Jesus came to be a part of our family and welcome us into God’s eternal family.
Let’s be willing to invite all those who come with him.
They too are part of our family. We cannot welcome Jesus without also extending our hand of welcome to those who gather round the manger – the disreputable and despised, the foreigners and aliens.
These days when a baby is born many young couples keep it cloistered away for the first couple of months, afraid that it will be exposed to germs that it has no immunity to. Most parents would certainly not welcome those who came to see Jesus – first the animals and then the homeless shepherds who slept in the fields at night. Who do we exclude from our families because we are afraid they will contaminate us and the babies in our midst?
I love the French custom of santons, in which clay models of villagers are positioned around the manger bringing their gifts to the Christ child. Imagine all our neighbours, those we enjoy and those we don’t want to have anything to do with, clustered around the manger, invited into that place of intimate hospitality with God. I encourage all of us to consider creating our own “santons” this Advent and Christmas season, santons of words, photos, and actions, not figures of clay.
Emma Morgan adapted this idea for her church in Australia. You can read her account of what she did here
I am more convinced than ever that it matters a lot where we think Jesus was born, who was with him and how we relate to him.
What is Your Response.
Sit and think about what kind of Jesus you are waiting for this Advent season. Visualize this baby being born into your family. How would be be welcomed? Who would be welcomed with him? Who would not be welcomed into the family circle around him.
So as we light the first candle of Advent, the candle of hope, listen to Kathy Troccoli as she encourages us to go light our world because, as she says we are a family.
(This post is adapted from one I wrote several years ago after reading Kenneth Bailey’s book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes). As an Amazon Affiliate I will receive a small amount for purchases made when you click on this link.
The service includes Scripture, lectio divina, silence, and reflective worship. People were seated in a circle with a candle in the middle. A painting of Mary being visited by the Angel was also displayed.Responsive Reading
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by Christine Sine
This morning I have been thinking about the wonder of breath. I read one of my breathing prayers and sat in silence for a few minutes breathing in and out slowly. Listening to the sound of my breath, imagining it flowing into my body and deoxygenating my cells. Not surprisingly this had me reaching for another of my Advent prayers from the past. (Also one of my favorites)
Breath is miraculous. It is life. It is the very essence of God. Yet it is not this I have been thinking about. The cries of those who can’t breathe freely ring in my mind. So many people whose breath has been cut short by fear and terror, by fire, flood and starvation. Images of polluted cities whose air is slowly killing their inhabitants come to me. Asthma sufferers. Refugees fleeing their breathing strangled by hate and violence.
This is the season we not only wait for the one who gives us breath, we wait for the healing and wholeness that comes when all are able to breathe freely and deeply without fear and without the strangling impacts of hate, abandonment and marginalization.
Darkness has been a regular companion for me in the cycles of deepening relationship with God. Usually, suffering of some sort accompanies the lightless season. I’ve had enough experiences like this now that I’ve learned not to panic. The first time around I was terrified. I thought something was wrong with me. I thought I must be losing my way. I thought either there is no God or God is so out of reach that I’ll never realize God’s real presence.
Sure, in my younger life I had had plenty of spiritual experiences. Some I’m sure were authentic. Most were fairly emotional, perhaps some even emotionally manipulated. At any rate, early in the spiritual journey I enjoyed a number of experiences that reinforced God’s love for me. But then, the practices that used to help stir up a spiritual experience—worship music, spiritual teaching from the church, Bible reading, and prayer—ran dry. They didn’t support my connection with God like they used to. I found myself alone, in obscurity.
Thankfully, the right teachers came into my life and introduced me to contemplative practice as a way of sustaining my faith journey. It’s like I was given practices not so much to light the way through the shadows but instead to teach me how to walk in the dark.
During winter seasons in the journey, our spiritual senses are concealed so that our vision for reality can be refined. “Now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror; then we will see face to face. My knowledge is imperfect now; then I will know even as I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). In a way, it’s like eye surgery. We have to suffer momentary blindness to receive precision of sight.
Years ago, my friends Jeelan and Nazreen gave me the gift of physical sight. Jeelan was born into an Urdu-speaking folk Muslim family in the heart of South India’s Tamil Nadu. Nazreen was born into a progressive Pakistani-Malay Muslim family. She grew up in Singapore. When Jeelan moved to Singapore for work, they met, fell in love and eventually married. Today, they are raising their two beautiful children near San Francisco. In all my travels around the world, no one has been more family to me than Naz and Jeel.
I had been nearsighted from the time I was nine years old. I remember as a young student in second or third grade trying to read the classroom chalkboard and using my index fingers to squint my eyes to help make out the teacher’s writing. My eyesight used to be so bad that I couldn’t see the bedside clock in the morning. As you can imagine, frequent travel to various places around the world made dealing with contact lenses and glasses rather difficult. By the time I was an adult, Lasik corrective eye surgery had come a long way, and I wondered if I would ever be able to afford it. It would be a miracle to have my eyesight restored without the need of corrective lenses.
My friends Nazreen and Jeelan got wind of my desire for the surgery and to my surprise offered to pay for it so I wouldn’t have to wait any longer. Imagine. A Muslim gave me, a Christian, sight.
The surgery and recovery were quite an experience. Before the operation, the nurse gave me something to help me relax. Then she secured my eyelids open. The next thing I knew, a laser beam was penetrating my eye. All grew dark. I don’t remember a lot after that. When it was time to leave the clinic, patches were put over my eyes. When I returned home, in the dark, unable to see, I could do nothing but sleep. When I woke, it was safe to remove the bandages. I remember the anticipation. Would I really be able to see without my glasses? And sure enough, I could easily read the bedside clock.
Clear sight wasn’t exactly instantaneous. It took a little while for my eyes to adjust. I even had to go back to the surgeon for a minor surgical adjustment. It’s like this in a spiritual sense too. At times, we have to enter periods of darkness so that God can perform miracles in perception. It’s scary. And it requires every ounce of trust we’ve got. But when the darkness lifts, we see in a new way. There may be an adjustment period, but soon enough we stabilize with new spiritual sight. And in all likelihood, there will be times when we have to enter the darkness again for an adjustment.
In some ways, the role of darkness in the spiritual journey is like the story of Moses who wanted to encounter the living God. God said that no one has seen the face of God and lived, so Moses had to take cover in a cave (retreat into darkness) while the presence of God passed by (Exodus 33:12‑23).
It’s true that we cannot see the face of God and live (Exodus 33:20). At least the false self cannot live in the presence of God. As we draw nearer to God, we take cover in the dark while the false self is burned away. If we want to “see” (become aware) of the reality of God, the false self has to die, or let go of its dominance. For ultimately, as Father Richard rightly points out, everything belongs. It’s just a matter of the false self-dying to its prominence or dominance in one’s life. This is the work of the spiritual journey. This is what it means to do your inner work. The false ideas, misperceptions, and skewed beliefs about God and, quite frankly, about ourselves have to metaphorically burn up in divine light.
*Taken from Mindful Silence by Phileen Heuertz. Copyright (c) 2018 by Phileena Heuertz. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com
Phileena Heuertz is the author of Pilgrimage of a Soul and Mindful Silence and a founding partner of Gravity, a Center for Contemplative Activism. For nearly twenty years she and her husband, Chris, codirected an international nonprofit in more than seventy countries, building community among victims of human trafficking, survivors of HIV and AIDS, abandoned children, and child soldiers and war brides.
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by Christine Sine
Today’s litany for the Third week of Advent is from my book Waiting for the Light.
The coming of our Lord is near,
Something new is around the corner,
Love, joy, peace and hope,
We await the promise of your coming.
The coming of our Lord is near,
Something new is appearing,
A child, a saviour, God’s much beloved son,
We await the hope of your coming.
The coming of our Lord is near,
Something new is being birthed,
A new heaven, a new world, a new community,
We await the long expected One.
The coming of our Lord is near,
We wait in joyful expectation for what is emerging,
Love comes down at Christmas,
And we await your coming.
(Pause to light the appropriate Advent candles)
The coming of our Lord is near
and we await the promise of your coming,
Light of the world draw close,
Shine on us with your guiding presence,
Shine in us with your truth and forgiveness,
Shine through us with your mercy and love.
The coming of our Lord is near
and we await the promise of your coming,
Bring light and life and love into our world,
Lead us to the fullness of life,
Where peace and righteousness kiss,
Where truth and justice embrace.
Come Lord Jesus come
You who are love incarnate,
You who give life eternal,
You who are the One in whom all things find completion,
Draw close and teach us the ways of peace.
Come Lord Jesus come,
You who are fully human yet fully God,
Come again into our world,
Come again into our lives,
Draw close, come again and make us whole.
Scripture Readings: read appropriate scriptures for the day.
Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
God who is justice, come.
Come to refugees and victims of violence throughout the world.
God who is righteousness, come.
Come to all who have been mistreated and abused.
God who is compassion, come.
Come to all who are sick and in need of healing.
God who is love, come.
Come to all who hate and live in fear.
Light of the world come, draw near,
In this Advent season come into our world afresh,
Draw all the world’s people into your embrace,
Open our hearts to welcome you.
Light of the world come, draw near,
Shine your star that we might follow,
Let angel choruses welcome you,
And proclaim your peace through all the earth.
Light of the world come, draw near,
Birth in us something new,
Fill the emptiness within,
Let your love overflow in us, through us, beyond us.
Amen.
Week 3 of Advent from John Lewis’ book, Finding the Treasure in Christmas: A Guide to celebrating Advent for Families —
Special Activities:
- Take the baby Jesus from the Nativity set, wrap Him in a box, and put Him under the tree as the first gift. Remember, the starting place of Christmas is receiving the gift of Jesus.
- Wrap and put some presents under the tree.
- Put up your stockings, remembering the legend of Santa Claus (see Reflect below) and that traditionally gifts were put in socks hung to dry over the fireplace.
- Read a suggested story from the New Guideposts Christmas Treasury, found in Appendix II.
- Watch: It’s a Wonderful Life(Theme: Our life is a gift to the world); The Toy that Saved Christmas/Veggie Tales(Theme: Christmas is not about getting gifts, but about giving, just as God gave Jesus); The Drummer Boy(Theme: We need to give the gift of ourselves to baby Jesus).
Read:
Read Isaiah 9:6; Luke 2: 8-12, 15-18 as you light the third Advent candle, which is the “Shepherd’s Candle.”
Reflect:
Santa Claus comes from the legend of Saint Nicholas, a bishop who lived centuries ago and who deeply loved God and people. He became famous for showing his gratitude to God by giving gifts to the poor in his city, and especially for the children. Legend has it he left his gifts in the stockings they had laid by the hearth or by their bed to dry overnight. His story has since captured the hearts of the world. Nearly every nation has some kind of tradition of giving surprises and goodies to children on Christmas. This tradition of giving and receiving presents, and of leaving out stockings to be filled on Christmas Eve, can all be traced back to Saint Nicholas. He freely received from Christ, so freely he gave (Matt. 10:18).
This same response of giving is wonderfully displayed in the first Christmas shepherds. In an obscure field, angels sang to these bedraggled and forgotten folk. Motivated by the mysterious gift of the Christ child, the shepherds eagerly spread the story of the angels’ message, first to Mary and Joseph, and then to whomever would listen. Proclaiming God’s gift to them became their gift to those around them.
However, it is easy to forget that the foundation of our holiday giving is the extravagant coming of Christ. As Jesus’ followers, we can be tempted by store sales, helping prop up the economy, or merely following a cultural custom. Shouldn’t we be motivated to give by something deeper? “We love because God first loved us,” and God never loved us more than when He sent His only Son (John 3:16).
The meaning of Jesus’ name –“God saves”– reminds us that it is in Jesus’ very nature to give out of His abundance. Christ’s two-step cadence of receiving and giving is equally woven into our nature. As those called by Love and those who have freely received God’s “grace upon grace” (John 1:16); we are also called to give. Grace piled upon grace.
Our Christmas giving sets the course for how we should live all year long. Inspired by the eagerness of the shepherds, we should end the holidays ready to share thrilling story of Jesus.
Sing:
“Silent Night” (especially verse 2)
Pray:
God, You gave the greatest treasure in sending Jesus, Your Son. He came wrapped in such a way that most of the world did not know, and still doesn’t know, that He is our long awaited King. Open our eyes to see the gift of the baby Savior, and through Him the gift of life. Let our to each other this Christmas be our way of saying thank You for Your wonderful love, expressed most extravagantly in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
John Lewis lives in Tacoma, Washington and is a father of three grown children and husband of one Christmas-loving wife. He is the director of Kingdom Story Ministries and passionate about seeing the next generation of Jesus followers grow and stay faithful over their life time. Building meaningful and enduring traditions during the Advent season, the month before Christmas, was certainly one way their kids found long term faith roots. Those 15 years of trial and error, singing carols and squirming in their seats, reading and sharing, putting up the tree, lights, ornaments and star one week at a time, they were well worth the effort. Though far from perfect, we offer to you our flexible approach and variety of ideas for developing Christ centered Christmas traditions. May your kids, year after year, grow anticipate the faith element of Christmas alongside all the fun of the season; may their roots run long and deep for the challenging life they have ahead of them.
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