Merry Christmas! I'm sorry I missed yesterday's posting, but our Christmas Eve service and Christmas Day preparations sort of snuck up on me. I have to say that I am very grateful that I have a church that allows me to make adjustments on the fly during a service... and so, when the pastor forgets a detail or two, like asking someone to take the offering, she can just call on someone from the front and they step in.
We end this advent season with a photo similar to the one from my first reflection... focusing on the baby in the manger. We ended our Christmas Eve service with the song "Silent Night," but for some reason it seems to me that the evening was anything but silent. A young girl's screams as she gives birth to her first born child. The cry of Jesus' first breath in this world as a human being. Joseph rushing about. The animals restless. A band of rowdy angels shouting "Glory to God in the Highest" right outside of town. A group of shepherds showing up unexpectedly... I just can't imagine them arriving quietly, these hard working people making their way in from tending their flocks to take a peak at this new baby.
We often imagine God in the silence. It is quite a biblical image. God coming not in the roar of thunder or the crash of lightning, but in the still small whisper. We focus many of our spiritual practices on reaching that place of quiet and solitude where we can hear God's still small voice. But I wonder if sometimes in our desire to seek quiet and solitude we miss out on the presence of God in the midst of the ordinary noise and chaos of the day.
God was just as present as Mary cried out in labor as God was in the quiet that followed. God was just as present as the heavy footsteps of the shepherds arrived as God was in the few moments of peace right after Christ's birth. God was just as present in the triumphal singing of the angels as God was in the stillness of Mary's heart pondering it all.
As we go forth in this Christmas season, may we seek to see God not just in the silence and the solitude, but in the chaos and noise of our lives. May we have eyes to see when God is speaking in the midst of our ordinary every day living and breathing. May we recognize God's presence... not just in some distant silent place or deep within us, but right there on the surface. God with us. Immanuel.
10 comments:
Beautiful post. I love it especially since my life is more often loud and chaotic instead of serene and silent. Merry Christmas, Jo Ann. I hope it's been a great day of celebration for you.
Thank you for your words. They mean a lot!
Pursuing Holiness
T
Ahhh, brilliant. I have been reflecting on just this theme, in contrast to so much philosophy that wants to free us from suffering, a new philosophy that throws us into suffering. The overlap in your themes is quite on target to a number of mine. My wife and I just had a child, and Christmas was far from pacific. If you have a chance: http://wrestlinggypsies.blogspot.com You'll at least find a boon companion for many of your strong thoughts.
Christians like to say that God is with us... but scientifically speaking, you nailing cheese to a wall is just as beneficial as praying and produces the same results. Its a pity that you don't think for yourself.
As someone with an engineering degree from Berkeley, it is my understanding that physics has taught us that there are things in this world that are beyond our ability to prove scientifically. Why can't that be God?
Some of us do think for ourselves and still believe in the reality of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
cool!!!
Very enjoyable!
You have given some excellent thoughts in your post. God is always speaking, often only in our hearts or then as we read and study His Word!
great post....
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