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AdventWord 2018, Day #16 – “Sing”

It’s okay to like Christmas music even during Advent. Maybe especially during Advent.

Music stokes memory, conjuring long forgotten images and feelings about a time when I approached the season with barely contained anticipation that children can summon seemingly at will. The singing of carols, traditional and new, helps me reach that place as an adult.

This isn’t about gifts or secular winter holidays. It’s about music freeing my mind to remember what it’s like to be unburdened by adult concerns and exist in the moment. Anyone can sing at almost any time, but being in the moment–listening to the music and feeling it–enhances the performance. And sometimes in a world of work, mortgages, household chores, money, traffic, and other first world problems, I sometimes forget to sing. Luckily, I have a couple of sons who create amazing music. And a wife and other son who appreciate great singing.

There is plenty of reason to sing in my safe world, loved by family and friends, with a place to live, food to eat, entertainment, a church family that thrills me when I see them, and plenty of other good things.

But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be on your own front door.

O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven: Be ever present with your servants who seek through art and music to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; and grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for evermore, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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AdventWord Day 15 – “rejoice”

I was bragging about my children one day as I caught up with a friend. Happy for their work and other successes, thrilled to see them growing and stretching as every parent hopes, moving far beyond their upbringing and —

–“Don’t you feel like your real work is done?” my friend asked.

Hmm. Well, maybe not *done* but certainly a moment to rejoice over. And time to allow feelings of satisfaction and relief to wash over me. They married and bought houses and got promoted and traveled for business and made close friends and looked out for each other. They would always be okay even if their environment wasn’t.

Any parent recognizes that this is the season of anticipation culminating in rejoicing.

This season we celebrate the birth of a baby who was really God on Earth. And like God the parent looks upon us as children, we should strive to make God pleased with us by following the Greatest Commandments given us. You know the story of the Pharisee lawyer who is told, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Love God.

Love your neighbors.

These two simple guidelines result in rejoicing here thanks to an easier, less stressful existence, and in God’s kingdom.

Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God , for ever and ever. Amen.

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AdventWord 2018 Day 14 – Prepare

Matthew teaches us that the angel of the Lord appeared to Mary’s husband Joseph and said these words, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

After Herod died, an angel again spoke to Joseph,

“Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.”

When their child is threatened, a parent does anything to keep them safe. That’s why we learned about parents throughout history who sacrificed themselves when it meant their child could live.

When several thousand people walked through Central America and Mexico, they did so to petition for asylum and live in the United States. Their preparations consisted of taking what they could carry on a weeks-long march that would cover more than one thousand miles for some of them.

The United States also prepared to meet these weary travelers by sending its army to fortify the fences and stand ready to arrest any who sought to petition for entrance.

My opinion on the matter was formed when I learned the words of Matthew as a young man. They were buttressed by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, who wrote about their journey two months ago:

“What is the Christian way to manage borders? Strength does not require cruelty. Indeed, cruelty is a response rooted in weakness. Jesus was clear about what true strength is and it always is driven by love. There may be many policy prescriptions, but the prism through which we view them should be the same: does the policy treat people with love, acknowledging our common humanity? If the answer is no, it is not a Christian solution.”

Lord, let us live as you teach and how your human parents lived with you.

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Advent Word 2018, Day 13 – “Prune”

I collect stuff.

And I collect the stuff that makes the stuff I collect work in case the stuff breaks.

Now I have stuff that makes stuff work for stuff I no longer own.

At the risk of cribbing the rest of George Carlin’s famous routine, I’m painfully aware that a minimalist lifestyle has escaped me no matter how attractive it seems. Over time, I’ve learned to remove the stuff I no longer need or use instead of keeping things in reserve in case they’re needed one day.

My mind is like that too. I can easily recall the 1973 New York Mets roster and tell you that former reliever George Stone had a 12-3 record that year. It’s stuff that has accumulated in my mind although good for you, Mr. Stone. As I embarked on my quest to write an Advent journal this year, I wondered if it would bring sharper focus to Advent and my relationship with God. I’m thrilled that it’s done both, allowing me to prune away a sitcom or social media period in favor of thinking about God, me, the world, and our relationship.

And I spent more time reading through the Book of Common Prayer, which is really good stuff.

O God, in the course of this busy life, give us times of refreshment and peace; and grant that we may so use our leisure to rebuild our bodies and minds, that our spirits may be opened to the goodness of your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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