Dear Caldwell,
How is it that we can expect something that has already happened? How do we get to anticipate what’s already occurred?
That was the discussion in staff meeting this morning. After all, isn’t that what we sing about in our Christmas hymn and carols? Yet, if we are lucky, that’s what we do each year, especially in these last days of our journey to Bethlehem and the manger. Something deep within us stirs, somehow escaping the corruption of commercial Christmas, and we begin the expectation of Christmas Eve and the next morning. As unlikely as it may seem, we find that there is something innocent enough left within us that anticipates the arrival of the light of the world as if we are welcoming it for the first time.
So it has always been – this way that our mysterious God escapes time, at least time as we know it, and manages to surprise us each Christmas. It was 700 years before Christ when the prophet Isaiah pronounced those words we will read Friday night:
For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon His shoulders;
and He is named Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
How did the prophet speak of what was to happen centuries later with such confidence and certainty – all as if it had already been done? (Because it was already done?!?) As for the staff’s conclusions, we agreed it’s a mystery, how God works outside of time, and that’s good enough for us. We agreed we’d rather have a God who bends time for Her purposes, a Lord who escapes our human understanding rather than one that we can capture, put in a box and wrap tightly with a bow. Yes, again this Christmas, we’ll take faith over the illusion of certainty.
So in these last days of Advent, indulge yourself in wonder. Make time for even a little awe, if you can, in how the God of heaven and Earth came in vulnerable child to an otherwise overlooked and insignificant couple in a forgotten, out of the way spot, the last place Herod would have looked. Old Herod didn’t stand a chance. And the world was never the same. (For a little of that wonder, in case you didn’t see the kids pageant Sunday or Mary Ellen Player sing like an angel, you can catch it on Youtube here.)
For those who have been journaling and reflecting with the Advent resource that member Pat Adams prepared, or for any who would like to come for conversation and contemplation on this, the longest night of the year, there is a gathering online tonight at 7 p.m. led by Pat and Rev. Gail. Click here to attend.
And … if, like me, the tragedy in Kentucky and elsewhere from the recent tornadoes weighs heavy on your heart, we will dedicate the Christmas Eve offering Friday night to help bring relief and hope to those who lost so, so much. You will be able to give through the collection plate or online.
We are lifting up Lynda Byrd, who has surgery today, Union Seminary’s Bec Davis, who had surgery yesterday, and Richard Campbell, who is at Atrium Pineville. We hold in prayer all who are traveling.
See you Friday night at 5 p.m. for our Lessons and Carols service.
May the wonder of the Lord who escapes our understanding of time be yours in these days when we “prepare” again to meet Jesus anew.
In Christ,
John