As I read through my Saturday post I was struck by Bailey’s comment
They came 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.
We all have our preconceived ideas about where Jesus’ light will shine. Some of us think that the glory of God will shine most brightly in our big churches and cathedrals. Others think it should shine through our governments and political systems. But Jesus came to an ordinary family, through an unwed mother, into a small out of the way town.
To me drawing close to God and living into the light of Christ are synonymous. We cannot be close to God as long as we live primarily in a world whose values are the very antithesis of God’s values – fear instead of love, acquisitiveness and greed instead of generosity, violence & oppression instead of peace. We all need to take time and make space to draw aside from that world and move more deeply into the light of Christ.
What is Your Response?
Where do you think the light of Jesus shines most brightly in our world today?
- In your own life, in the midst of your ordinary everyday life, where are you aware of the light of Christ shining in you and out through you to the world around?
- As you look at the desperate situations of war and refugees, sex trafficking and oppression, Ebola and disease, what glimmers of Christ’s light are you aware of that are already shining in these situations?
Yarn bombing creation by Naomi Lawrence
The glimmers of Christ’s light are already shining brightly in our world. Yes we do see it in the churches and big organizations working for change in society, government and environmental initiatives. But I think it shines most brightly in the lives and work of those that most of the world will never be aware of.
I see it in my Dutch born friend Sandra Lako, a doctor in Sierra Leone who has worked through the ravages of Ebola in her adopted country, losing friends and colleagues to this dread disease. She could have stayed in the safety of the Netherlands, but chose instead to bring God’s light and healing into this horrible situation.
I see it in our friend Naomi Lawrence, who creates magnificent yarn bombing projects that she strategically places in dark corners of her neighbourhood.
I see it in our administrative assistant Katie Metzger who, together with her friend Danielle Neufeld has started an ethically produced, environmentally friendly clothing company Same Threads which employs local artisans in Northeast Thailand.
I see it in the work of my friends Rich and Cheryl Mackey, founders of Arrow Outreach Ministry which works in Juarez Mexico with The Toribeo Family Center, The Socorro Rivera Elementary School and the newest ministry, Tocando Puertas Family Center.
God still works through the small and seemingly insignificant people and places. There are glimmers of Christ’s light already present in a million places in our world.
What Is Your Response?
Watch the video below (no apologies for reposting it) and as you do, think about the friends you know who work in out of the way places with ordinary people who have been hurt, oppressed, or abandoned. In what ways do you see the light of Christ shining through them?
Take time to pray for them, write a thank you note and let them know that the light of Christ shines brightly in their lives. Perhaps God is asking you to support them in other more tangible ways. Spend some time in prayer asking God how you should respond, and then go, provide oil for the lights that Christ has lit. What other responses may God ask of you?
The advent of the Lord is near.
New light dawning where there has been darkness.
The advent of the Lord is near.
New hope reigning where there has been death and despair.
The advent of the Lord is near.
New light, new hope, new life for all creation.
(Pause for lighting of the Advent candle)
This is a season of watchfulness,
We watch and wait for the One who heard our cries and entered the suffering of our world,
We expect new light to shine as the season of joy approaches,
We wait in anticipation for God’s light to penetrate the darkness and radiate within us,
This is a season of preparation,
We watch and wait for the One who broke down the barriers separating us from God, from each other and from God’s creation,
We wait with repentant hearts to prepare the way of the Lord,
This is a season of promise.
We watch and wait and prepare our hearts for the promised coming of Emmanuel,
God with us, God for us, God in us
We wait in hope for our Redeemer to bring God’s love into our broken world,
This is a season of reflection,
We watch and wait expecting to be transformed by the light of God’s holiness.
So that we might serve in God’s kingdom as bearers of light and guide others to the Light.
We wait expectantly for God’s Saviour to come and dwell in our midst,
This is a season of fulfillment,
We await and celebrate the coming of God’s Kingdom with its promise of shalom, of wholeness, of reconciliation and abundance for all.
We wait for the fulfillment of God’s covenant, for God’s Kingdom to come in its fullness,
This is a season of joyful anticipation,
Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and become God’s people
And the glory of God’s Kingdom will be revealed and all people will see it together
We wait expectantly attentive to all the signs of Christ’s coming.
Scriptures for the day –
Follow each scripture with the following refrain
We wait in anticipation and hope for your coming O Christ
Lord whose light shines in the darkness,
Have mercy upon us,
Christ whose birth gives hope to all creation
Have mercy upon us,
Lord whose advent brings joy and love
Grant us peace
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, for ever and ever. Amen.
Into our troubles and weaknesses,
Into the barren places of our souls, Come Lord,
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Into the war torn and the refugee,
Into those who live in conflict, Come Lord,
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Into the homeless and the unemployed,
Into those who feel abandoned, Come Lord,
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Into the sick and the disabled,
Into those with Ebola and with cancer, Come, Lord
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Into the poor and the starving,
Into those who are oppressed or abused, Come Lord
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Into the lives of loved ones,
Into those from whom we are estranged, Come Lord,
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Into our joys and celebrations,
Into our work and our achievements, Come, Lord
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
O Christ we long for your coming. Hasten that day when those who seek you in every nation will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south and sit at table in Your Kingdom. Hasten the day when your Kingdom will come in all its glory and suffering and pain and sickness and oppression and death will be overcome forever. Hasten the day when we will be resurrected as a great multicultural family and live in peace, harmony, joy and love together in your kingdom.
Calm us to wait for the gift of Christ;
Cleanse us to prepare the way for Christ;
Teach us to contemplate the wonder of Christ;
Touch us to know the presence of Christ;
Anoint us to bear the life of Christ. AMEN
Final prayer: Ray Simpson, Celtic Worship Through the Year, London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1997, p19
This liturgy orginally produced for Waiting for the Light: An Advent Devotional
Tomorrow is the first day of Advent and our journey towards Bethlehem with Mary and Joseph has begun. But where will we end up and who will we bring with us? Is it to a stable, or is into the family home. Do we travel alone or are we accompanied by friends and strangers. Our images of the destination shape our faith in ways we don’t even realize.
Lk 2:7 tells us: she (Mary) gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
According to New Testament theologian Kenneth Bailey in his wonderful book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Jesus was not born in a stable at all. . Middle Eastern cultures are known for their hospitality and Joseph was coming home with a new wife and an expected first child. 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 some translations does not mean a commercial building with rooms for travelers. It’s a guest space, typically the upper room of a common village home as the NIV translation above tells us.
“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, Gentiles, rich men on camels, probably from Arabia. They too are unacceptable to the Jews. That the family let them in to see the baby is also amazing. Yet they come, and they are welcomed. 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 refugees from so many nations who long for a place to belong, 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 who accept God’s invitation.
This is indeed good news for refugees and those fleeing war and oppression today. It is good news for those who feel despised and rejected within our society. And it is good news for those of us who struggle to know how to respond.
As we begin our journey towards Bethlehem, let us not just follow the star but may we allow it to shape us into the people God wants us to be.
(This post is adapted from one I wrote a couple of years ago for the beginning of Advent. I so love the imagery Bailey creates for us that I like to share it each year.)
Welcome to Advent, that wonderful season in which we await the coming of Christ, not just as a baby, but also as the Savior coming into our lives and into our world.
On Godspace our Advent theme is Lean Towards the Light. In celebrating the birth of Jesus, we often forget that the light of Christ is already shining in our world. In the northern hemisphere, we may be aware that darkness is the place in which seeds germinate. In the southern hemisphere, leaning towards the light engenders images of growth and summer sunsets splashed across the sky. Wherever we are in God’s world, let us learn to lean towards the light.
We launched the season a little early, today, by posting my yearly Advent video Leaning Towards the Light. It contains amazing photos by Craig Goodwin and Tom Balke (Title photo) and beautiful music by Jeff Johnson.
Produced and written by Christine Sine for Mustard Seed Associates.
The music is “Antiphon” from the CD, ANTIPHON by the Coram Deo Ensemble. Music by Janet Chvatal, Jeff Johnson & Brian Dunning
℗© 2011 Sola Scriptura Songs / ArkMusic.com
Used with permission. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
We will post daily reflections, prayers and music throughout the season to inspire and challenge all of us. Leaning towards the light is not just about our personal preparation. It embraces our response to world crises, our attitudes towards those at the margins, and compassionate care for friend and stranger alike.
In addition, we have a variety of Advent/Christmas resource lists you might like to explore including this beautiful Advent candle lighting liturgy by Emma Morgan of Melbourne, Australia.
New Gift and New Resources for You this Advent Season
As a free gift to you all, a small way to say thank you for your prayers, support and encouragement, we offer our new Advent/Christmas colouring book, Colour Your Way Through Advent and Christmas. Colouring pages are based on the O Antiphon images drawn for us last year by Danielle Poland for our popular devotional A Journey Toward Home: Soul Travel from Advent to Lent. Additional Christmas images were created by our new volunteer Shelby Selvidge.
It is the season for gratitude, an emotion that, unfortunately, does not seem to come naturally for us. But we can intentionally choose to be grateful.
As we celebrate American Thanksgiving with gratitude and thanksgiving, many books come to mind. Here are a few of my favourites:
- Diana Butler Bass’s book Grateful: The Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks
- Ann Voskamp’s wonderful book: One Thousand Gifts
- Janice Kaplan : The Gratitude Diaries
- Brother David Steidl-Rast: Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer
- Joshua Choonmin Kang: Spirituality of Gratitude: Unexpected Blessings of Thankfulness
- Lynne M Baab: Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian Life
- Robert A Emmons The Little Book of Gratitude: Create a Life of Happiness and Wellbeing By Giving Thanks
And if you want an inspiring short meditation on gratitude, as a prelude to your Thanksgiving meal, nothing can beat this video by Brother David Steindl-Rast.
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There are only a few days left of the liturgical year and I have decided its time to reflect back on what God has said to me over the year. I have gathered all the stones that I used in my contemplative gardens this year, all my quotes and words of inspiration and encouragement and put them together for the day into a single garden.
I have savoured each of the rocks, holding them in my hand and reminding myself of how God used them as spiritual markers for me over the year. I am finding more and more that writing on rocks is an inspirational practice that provides tangible memories far more durable than paper.
It has been a profound experience, a wonderful reminder in this week of thanksgiving and gratitude of the guidance and direction of God and of the amazing grace of God that I have experienced in the process.
I encourage you too not to wait until the end of the calendar year to do some reflecting. Take time during this week of thanksgiving and gratitude to look back on what God has done in your life this year. Savour the memories you have of when and how God has spoken to you. Hopefully you have some tangible objects, like my rocks, to assist you. If not write down a list of memories from the year and what God has spoken to you.
American Thanksgiving is on Thursday, a day that I, like so many others, love to celebrate with friends and family. last year I wrote this liturgy for the season and a prayer entitled Thank God It Will Suffice.
Each year as we approach this day I am reminded of the power of thanksgiving and gratitude. It makes us happy, boosts our health, improves our immune system, helps us sleep better and even makes us score higher on tests.
I always try to take time at Thanksgiving to remind myself of the many blessings God has gifted me with and I encourage you to do the same. In the midst of travel, cooking and fun with family and friends take time this thanksgiving to offer up your gratitude to God for all the blessings of life, love and grace.
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