My good friend Tom Balke just sent me a copy of this wonderful poem by Alfred Tennyson. It is a perfect poem to meditate on as we contemplate the end of the year and the beginning of a new one.
In Memoriam, [Ring out, wild bells]
Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809 – 1892
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
shortly after I posted this another good friend Michael Moore sent me a link to where Alana Levandoski created and posted a song written from the poem. It is beautiful .
by June Friesen
In Arizona we have a little community called Carefree. It is a delightful little town that is rather unique in many ways. It has unique street names such as Easy Street and Ho Hum Lane. It has delightful little eating places such as Black Mountain café as well as a Tea Room. It has unique shops including antiques, Native American artifacts, Mexican artistry, and much more. In recent years it has also become a place where people love to retire. In the center of this village is a park which is unique in many ways. It has metal sculptures that portray the west including a few horses. There are a couple of play areas for the children to enjoy as well which have creative play things. My favorite however is this wonderful water feature. It is a manmade water fall which arches over a walkway. I love to such stand under the water as it cascades above me and imagine God’s presence washing over me. And when the sun is shining in the right space – as it was recently for these photos – God is there with a special presence. As I pondered the photos I took the other day I was led to these verses in Psalm 118.
Psalm 118:21-29
Thank you for responding to me; you’ve truly become my salvation!
The stone the masons discarded as flawed is now the capstone!
This is God’s work.
We rub our eyes—we can hardly believe it!
This is the very day God acted— let’s celebrate and be festive!
Salvation now, God. Salvation now!
Oh yes, God—a free and full life!
26-29 Blessed are you who enter in God’s name—from God’s house we bless you!
God is God, he has bathed us in light.
Adorn the shrine with garlands, hang colored banners above the altar!
You’re my God, and I thank you. O my God, I lift high your praise.
Thank God—he’s so good.
His love never quits!
God, as I ponder Your continual, eternal love
Cascading over this world every moment –
I am reminded as I watch the water in this pond
Cascading over these rocks –
How different each one of the rocks are,
Each one is a different size,
Each one is placed in a different space,
Each one has water flow in
Different ways, different areas –
For some the water flow is fast,
For some it is a trickle,
For some it goes over,
For some it goes around,
For some it has smoothed the edges,
For some it has made indentations,
For some it has brought a cleansing,
For others there are specks of dirt and a fallen leaf or two,
Yet, each rock simply remains in its space
Allowing those who come by
To stop and ponder and rest their spirit for a while
As I chose to do.
God too chooses to cascade His Spirit
Continually over this entire universe –
Especially upon the planet we call earth,
His Spirit cascades equally in all places worldwide
And I cannot but notice the similarities to His Spirit’s presence
And how it flows over all of humanity as well.
How different each one of us is,
Each one is a different size,
Each one living in a different space/place,
Each one has the Spirit present around or in us in
Different ways, different areas –
For some the Spirit seems to flow steady,
For some it seems to flow intermittently,
For some the Spirit seems to flow quickly,
For some the Spirit seems but a trickle,
For some it goes over,
For some it seems to go around,
For some it has smoothed the rough edges,
For some it has made indentations,
For some it has brought a cleansing,
For some there are specks of tarnish still,
And one could go on I am sure,
But the abiding and beautiful truth is this:
The Spirit is present,
Not will be or wishes to be –
He is present –
He is waiting for you and for me
To take the time to embrace His cascading cleansing
Allowing it to flow completely and fully within our spirits
Washing us with resurrection new life cleansing
Setting us free to embrace and live a life fresh and new once again.
Amen.
Now if you are like me you may find it necessary to revisit these times with the Spirit just as I do. And I love that I actually have the physical reminder to go to from time to time. Another reminder can be a fountain – a fountain inside or outside the home. I have also chosen to do that at times. In one of our homes I had a fountain on the patio and I often did my quiet time in this area allowing the fountain’s trickle of water to remind me of the Spirit’s presence. Embrace the Spirit – Jesus’ gift to you and to me – and to the world.
Photographs by June Friesen. Scripture is from The Message Translation.
Whether you are praying the stations of the day, in need of resources for rest, hoping to spark joy and find wonder, or simply want to enjoy beautiful prayers, poetry, and art – our digital downloads section has many options! Christine Sine’s book Rest in the Momentis designed to help you find those pauses throughout the day. Praying through the hours or watches, you may find inspiration in our prayer cards set Prayers for the Dayor Pause for the Day. You may find your curiosity piqued in the free poetry and art download Haiku Book of Hours. All this and more can be found in our shop!
I love the week between Christmas and New Years…39 years ago today, I married my best friend and we are celebrating love and life and taking stock of what knowing each other for over 40 years means. I keep saying this can’t be possible since I’m only 35…but the calendar and my drivers license don’t lie.
Rob and Me 39 years of Love and Adventure
I love that we are in the midst of the 12 Days of Christmas! The Christmas Season! I just wish more people would take the time to enjoy these days as days of celebration and reflection, to use this time as a time to sit and look at the tree with all it’s lights, to rest and to process all the gifts of the year. Instead in America, we tend to jump right back into to work and “real life” and start the race again.
I love that the Christmas Story doesn’t end with the Shepherds. We get Simeon and Anna to remind us that waiting is worth it. They both have waited and worshiped and held to the promise of the Messiah. Then they get to experience the PROMISE in the flesh! He cries real tears and smiles real smiles and needs a burp after he eats! God is really with us and his name is JESUS.
Pete Grieg of 24/7 Prayer posted on Instgram this week and suggested doing an end of the year Examen. What could it look like to take the time to reflect on the year that has past in order to move into the NEW YEAR with joy and peace. I’d suggest getting together your journals, your photos from the year, any other things that you do that might help you ponder and look back on the past several months. If you knit, or do a craft/art you might pick several of your creations to help you reflect on the year. Bring some paper and pen or your journal and art supplies if you like creating things. You might even choose to collage from magazines as a way to process your year.
SIT IN LOVE :Pick a comfortable spot. Light a candle. Imagine yourself in the presence of Jesus.
Picture Jesus looking at you and smiling. How does that feel?
Allow Jesus to hold you in his love. Just sit with this for a bit. It’s sometimes hard to really believe that Jesus loves us just as we are! Allow that LOVE to surround you.
PRACTICE GRATITUDE: Now take time to reflect on the beautiful gifts of this past year. As Father Michael Sparough says…not a list of things but rather a savoring of the gifts in your life…Where have you seen the goodness of God? In people, in places, in yourself? Think about places you’ve been, opportunities you’ve had. Look back through your journals, your photographs, your calendar. LOOK FOR GOOD THINGS, THE GIFTS! Take time to be grateful. You might make a list, or create a collage, or some other response to these good gifts. Thank Jesus for these amazing things, both big and small.
PROCESS GRIEF: There have been so many hard things this year. So much loss. So much pain. Take the time to look back and feel those feelings. You don’t have to hold back with Jesus. He knows. You can yell, cry or scream it out if you need to. Just forewarn your housemates of what you are doing ahead of time. I like having a pitcher of water and a large container to pour out my tears to God to express my grief. After taking some time to reflect on the grief and pain of your year, give these things to Jesus to hold for you.
REPENTANCE: Reflect on the things you have done this year that you need to say sorry for and ask Jesus to forgive you. This isn’t about making a list or beating yourself up for things. Remember that Jesus is sitting with you and He is smiling at you! JESUS LOVES YOU. Just sit with Jesus and allow him to love you in the midst of things you need help with…like anger, and worry and judgement and self criticism and gossip, or fear….Give these to Jesus to hold and REST in his LOVE.
LOOK FORWARD in HOPE! What are the good things, the things you want to take into this year ahead? In our Epiphany retreat a couple of years ago, Christine Sine reminds us to consider the intentions, rather than resolutions, we want in the new year.
Sit for a while and imagine Jesus smiling at you and listening to you as a dear friend would over coffee or tea. Listen to Jesus. Sit with Him in His LOVE.
What things do you want to take with you on your journey into the NEW YEAR? What things did you notice as you reflected on this year that you’d like to keep going? ASK JESUS TO SHOW YOU? As you look ahead, ask Jesus for the GRACE you need for the new year. Feel His loving arms surrounding you!
You could also create a year end play list to help you celebrate and process the year.
Lord Jesus! Today I am grateful for Love and Life and Friends.
I am grateful for breath, for running water, heat and electricity that I too often take for granted.
Jesus your love is truly an amazing gift I get to open daily. Thank you for loving me flaws and all! Help me to be more aware of your love and share that love with both friend and stranger. Help me to always seek and work for justice and peace in our broken world. In your beautiful name! AMEN
by Rev Sheila Hamil
The preacher and the boy finished the challenge at exactly the same time, miraculously so, and they looked at each other and smiled.
Poem: The Rubik Cube, by my daughter, Sarah
and a love for all those who haven’t enough.
To help on life’s journey, to see the way through.
That if you believe, there’s no need to fear.
And God will be with you each day of the year.
Light looked down and saw the darkness.
Love looked down and saw hatred.
came down and crept in beside us.
Welcome to the season of Christmas. I love these 12 days after Christmas Day in which we continue to celebrate Christmas. This year I appreciated more than ever before that these days celebrate both the sorrow and the joy of the season. On December 26th we celebrated St Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and tomorrow, December 28th, we celebrate the Holy Innocents who were killed by Herod as he attempted to kill the Christ child that the Magi told him had been born in Bethlehem.
My own celebration is a combination of joy and sorrow too. My Christmas altar has two images of the Holy family in it. One is a fairly traditional image in the middle of my Advent wreath, now filled with white candles. The other, is Kelly Latimore’s powerful icon Christ under the Rubble, which has been important for many of us this Christmas season, not just because it focuses on what is happening in Gaza, but because it reminds us of all the violent places in our world where the light of Christ is still so desperately needed.
In my Meditation Monday – Where is Christ Born, I talk about these images and comment: Strangely, these rather devastating images of Christ’s birth give me hope. Into the rubble of all the broken places of our world comes the One who showed us a different way to live, a way which can, as it has countless times before, bring reconciliation, peace, stability and new life.
I am excited that Kelly Latimore will be one of my first guests on the new Liturgical Rebels podcast. Another will be my favourite poet of the 2023 Drew Jackson. I expect to start recording next week, and appreciate your prayers.
I have done much reflecting on the Christmas story over the last 
week, some of these reflections are posted on Facebook and Instagram. Much to my surprise one of my posts has now had over 2.4K likes and 2.7K shares. It has been interesting reading through the responses. Most loved the post, a few got angry, and a few others had very helpful suggestions, especially about how our understanding of the words “meek” and “mild” have changed since Jesus day. One person commented: Maybe meekness was never meant to be passive, but rather an active and fierce expression of love and trust. Another post, which has also been very popular is this one that I wrote in response to to Kelly Latimore’s icon.
To facilitate this kind of interaction on reflections I write that do not appear on the Godspace blog, rather than expecting people to sign up for Instagram and Facebook, and then not be able to find posts in the midst of the ads and at the whim of the algorithms, I am thinking about starting a Substack newsletter. If you have any words of wisdom on that, or thoughts as to the value of that please let me know.
In yesterday’s post Empty But Expectant Jenny Gehman reflects on the hope we often find in the emptiness of despair and heartache. On Saturday in Reflections on Micah and Matthew, Karen Wilk reminded us that Jesus’ way is the shepherd’s way. He goes before us. The incarnation reminds us (among other things) that God’s way among us is the Shepherd’s way, a way of leading that is not distant or powerful, but gentle and instructive. In Freerange Friday,- Invitation to Worship, Lilly Lewin offered the last of her Advent invitations, She reminds us that in the Christmas story there are many ways to worship. The angels sing, the shepherds race to see, and Mary ponders in her heart. How do we worship this Christmas season? On Thursday April Yamasaki, in On the Edge of Winter reflects on a Gerald Manly Hopkins poem to a young girl, Margaret who is grieving.
I love the honesty and vulnerability that our writers express. I hope that it speaks to you in the same ways that it speaks to me.
It’s hard to believe that the next letter I write you will be in 2024. This has been a challenging year and we all hope that next year will hold more joy. Because of their popularity, and the keeness of many attendees for more, I am planning another series of webinars in the Spring. One thing people really appreciate about the way I do these is the interactiveness and the change for discussion. We begin as strangers and end as a community of friends who have learned from each other. Save the dates for our upcoming events: Spiritual Discernment:Finding Direction in a Confusing World, Saturday January 27th; Lent Quiet Day March 2nd and Spirituality of Gardening – May 11th. I am very aware that Saturday morning Pacfic Time is very inconvenient for those who live in Australia and New Zealand. Please let me know if you would be interested in another event at a better time for our Down Under friends.
Many blessings on all of you as we draw towards the end of the year. I am working on a new prayer for the 2024 but thought that I would end today’s letter with one I wrote a couple of years ago:
As a new day dawns,
And a new year emerges,
Let us open our eyes and our ears.
There is hope in every sunrise and sunset,
All around the world.
The light of hope will guide us.
Let us entwine our hearts with God’s heart,
And invite the eternal in us,
To welcome the wonder of each day.
Many blessings
Christine Sine
by Jenny Gehman
*Reprinted with permission from Anabaptist World magazine, AnabaptistWorld.org.*
I’ve had a harrowing relationship with hope. For long stretches of my life, I’ve felt deathly allergic to it. I had a particularly visceral reaction to the words of the prophet Jeremiah, who declared:
“‘For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (29:11).
A dozen or so years ago, a dear friend gave me a beautiful rendering of those words etched onto wooden boards. I was taken aback by this gift. Not for its beauty, but because my friend was well aware of my negative reaction to that scripture which, in my suffering, had been glibly given to me too many times. Doled out by well-intentioned people, it only served to add to my pain.
At the time, I wasn’t seeing any hope or future. I felt cut off from both.
Why was she giving this to me now? It felt like salt on an open wound.
Having noticed the disappointment and confusion on my face, this friend was quick to point out that the boards were hinged, so I could open or close them like a book.
With that, this dear one gave me both permission and control. She wanted desperately to offer me hope, but at the same time knew it might be too raw and painful for me to open up to. So now, she told me, I could close the placard when hope was too hard to bear. I loved her for that.
In Romans 5, Paul talks about hope as something that ultimately rises out of our suffering. According to him, suffering produces endurance, which produces character, which produces hope.
I have a feeling this equation is like one of those interminable math problems in my college statistics class. You eventually get to the bottom of it, but it’s a lot more complicated than two plus two.
However long it takes us to get there, Paul says, this hope that awaits us does not disappoint.
In The Message, Eugene Petersen put it this way:
“In alert expectancy [hope] such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary — we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!” (Romans 5:5).
Waiting expectantly for God to fill the empty spaces is a habit of hope. It reminds me of the story in 2 Kings 4 of a woman who had been emptied — emptied of her husband, of her possessions and provisions, and very soon to be emptied of her two sons, set to be sold as slaves.
Destitute, the widow cried for help to the prophet Elisha, who offered what appeared to be very strange advice. Learning that this woman had nothing of value in her home but a tiny bit of olive oil, Elisha said: “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not just a few” (2 Kings 4:3).
Empty, the prophet said, and not just a few. Ridiculous! How about instructing this poor woman to go around and ask all her neighbors for full jars? And while she’s at it, for bread, spare change and a job or two for her and her boys? Elisha’s advice seems overwhelmingly unhelpful.
But the prophet’s instructions were clear: What you, in your aching emptiness, need is to increase the empty all the more. In fact, collect all the empty you can, and then hold it all out there before God.
The people in Jeremiah’s day did this for 70 long years. A habit of hope is not only harrowing. It can be downright hard. What if all this empty isn’t filled?
And yet, the invitation remains: to stand, day after day, at the corner of emptiness and expectancy, and hold our cups high.
But we needn’t do this alone. In fact, we mustn’t.
When the widow came to her neighbors, I’d like to believe that along with those empty jars they lent her their hope like my friend did for me. I’d like to think they gave their belief. That along with the jars they held out holy anticipation and expectation. That they were with her in the wonder and the waiting.
And so, during these dark days, I will call on courage as I walk to that corner spot. I will bring not only my emptiness but the emptiness of my neighbors, both near and far, that I’ve collected along the way.
Perhaps we’ll meet there, you and I, and together hold this empty high, in this daily habit of hope.
Looking for resources to add meaning to your holiday season? We have collected liturgies, services, music, and much more to celebrate Advent, Christmas and into the New Year and Epiphany. Blessings on you and yours.
by Christine Sine
It’s Christmas Day and many of us are sitting down to enjoy a feast with friends and relatives. It is meant to be a day of joyous celebration. Yet many of us celebrate this year with heavy hearts and little joy. The situation in Gaza touches us deeply, made even more poignant at this season by the cancelling of Christmas festivities in Bethlehem. Even here in Seattle there are not as many Christmas lights as usual.
Bethlehem Creche by Munther Isaac
For me personally Christmas this year is a combination of both joy and grief. Kelly Latimore‘s icon Christ Under the Rubble and the earlier photo by Munther Isaac that circulated social media of Christ sitting in a pile of rubble at the Lutheran Evangelical Christmas Church in Bethlehem, have both been very impacting. Kelly wants his art to be a ‘holy pondering’ – a process that potentially brings about a new way of seeing. and it has certainly been that for me. My joy during this season comes from knowing that Christ has been born into our world and is in the process of making all things whole again. Each year I claim that promise, slow though its fulfillment may seem.
Ukrainian Nativity by Iraneus Yurchuk
As I think about Christmas this year I wonder where do we need to imagine Christ being born into our world. I think it is in the rubble of all the broken places – in Bethlehem, in Gaza, in Ukraine and the many other places of conflict on our planet. We also need to see him being born in the rubble of the lives of the millions of refugees, as well as in the places where racial hatred still reigns, domestic abuse is rampant, and discrimination against our LBGTQ+ kin. still rages Probably, as depicted in another of Kelly’s icons, it would also be amongst the homeless and the dispossessed, as well as in places of environmental devastation, pollution and deforestation.
Christ Born in tent City – Icon Kelly Latimore
On Red Letter Christians, which partnered with Kelly in the creation of this icon, Shane Claiborne comments: “How can we shape a culture of Christianity where love truly has no boundaries? How do we create a world where our poor, homeless, refugee, Palestinian Savior – born to a teenage mother and later condemned to death – would be cherished had he been born today.
Such an important question. Jesus Christ is love incarnate. What can we do to create a world in which Christ and the love that Christ calls us to, reigns in our world today?
Strangely, these rather devastating images of Christ’s birth give me hope. Into the rubble of all the broken places of our world comes the One who showed us a different way to live, a way which can as it has countless times before, bring reconciliation, peace, stability and new life.
This is not the only image that has unsettled me during my preparation for Christmas this year. I have also been unsettled by the poetry I have read, especially from Drew Jackson’s book God Speaks Through Wombs and so I will end with a poem that invites me into the joy and the celebration, in spite of the pain and grieving, a poem that gives us a glimpse of that new life and joy that the coming of Christ into the broken places and broken people of our world can bring.
Leap!
The dream
is no longer
deferred.
so we leap!
We can’t help it.
It rises up from within.
From deep, guttural places.
You can’t contain our dance!
Feel the pit-pat!
Hear the tip-tap!
That’s the rhythm of freedom.
Let the babies dance!
Let them tell us of salvation.
Let them lead us to liberation!
The babies are inviting us
into the dance of a future
on the threshold of birth.
And we will leap!
We will leap!
We will leap!
All the way there!
Drew Jackson God Speaks Through Wombs, (16)
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