Christmas Day B (Dec. 25, 2011) John 1:1-14
And the Word became flesh and lived among us ...
                                 John 1:14a New Revised Standard Version 

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

                            John 1:14a Today's New International Version 

So the Word became human and made his home among us. 

                                       John 1:14a  The New Living Translation

The Word became flesh and blood ...
      and moved into the neighborhood.  John 1:14a The Message

Well, the Idea became a man and moved in with us ...

                                             John 1:14a  The Cotton Patch Bible

No matter how you say it (and I distinctly recall a seminary professor saying that the literal translation of the verb all these render 'lived' or 'moved in' or dwelt' with us is actually closer to 'pitched tent' -- which immediately makes me think of God setting up camp with us!), no matter how you rank the above in accuracy or inaccuracy, the general notion is still totally confounding to the unbeliever. 

GOD BECAME LIKE ME? TOOK ON MY LIMITATIONS AND CONSTRAINTS IN LIFE? ARE YOU NUTS?

Which is the #1 of all the outrageous promises (see this week's www.d365.org devotions by Tammy Wiens) that only Christianity experiences with the Divine. I just had that bubbling-over joyous (Marva Dawn would say HILARIOUS!) experience as I lost track of the time and made a mad dash by mini flashlight out of my study, into the sanctuary,successfully negotiating a maze created by the Christmas tree, communion table, music stands and microphones, through the vestibule and into the choir room, to the carillon control -- to set off a wedding peal at midnight to welcome in Christmas Day. And as the raucous, joyful bells began to ring and ring and ring on top of each other, I realized how ridiculous I must have looked: in stockinged feet, sans a certain article of clothing meant to constrain, blouse pulled out, no jewelry, hair askew.... And I could truthfully say I felt like a child sneaking down with my sister to peek at the tree in the middle of the night as I opened the front door out from the vestibule so I could hear the carillon ringing more clearly through the crisp winter air. There was something both clandestine and conspiratorial about it ... yet it was definitely God who beckoned and accompanied me.

So the question I hear this week is: how has God burst in on YOU lately to allow you to experience the Incarnate One's outrageous presence?

hungry are fed ... needs in general are met

  beloved saints on earth are not forgotten

promises are fulfilled, over and over ...

 even when in strange places ...

all of God's children are loved and protected as they are by the Incarnate One, and it has nothing to do with their nuclear family make-up

22 years ago this adventure of mine began with the sun shining on a rooster...

last spring I saw this moon and thought: 'love cradled'; as I prepared the blog I thought: what a fitting image for Incarnation. the realization that followed: it was taken after a wedding reception on March 19; exactly 280 days later (40 weeks) we were lifting candles high to Silent Night -- yes!

                                             

Advent 4B (December 18, 2011: Colossians 1:21-23)

The last of the series 'looking for the REAL Jesus' as published in Reformed Worship, Vol. 101, helps us look beyond the manger and the humble, unimaginable incarnation of God to the end point, the culmination of the reason for the birth in the first place.

           'And you, who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 

           [Jesus Christ] has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as 

           to present you blameless and irreproachable before him....' (v.21-22)

Estrangement, even mental hostility always has its physical overtones. To turn away is to sin. How often in the height of an argument have you heard: 'don't you walk away from me!' or 'whenever things get the least bit tough, you always turn to .... ' Our physical stance is the analogy of our relationship with God. 

So the question I hear this week is: without Jesus Christ and his reconciling work, what does your picture with God look like?

Gavin, demonstrating his yoga prowess

Brenna, in a sea of beach debris

sibling nonchalant attitudes?

AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Advent 3B (December 11, 2011: Colossians 1:15-20)

Well, I stumbled again last week -- got this part written, but was stumped on the pictures! Now I know what they should be ... will be going back and slipping that in before finishing and posting this one.

This week is the well-known 'Christ Hymn', and the theme, 'Jesus, Our God'. The text claims Christ is 'the image of the invisible God... for in him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile all things ....' 


Can you even begin to wrap your brain around that? The people who looked into Jesus' eyes were looking into the very eyes of God? That all of us were created through him and for him? That we have been reconciled to God through him only because he made peace for us through the blood -- through his willing and sacrificial crucifixion -- of the cross? That we are a new people, people of God, the church, only because he is the second Adam, the first-born, and our Head.


The question I hear this week: because he is also fully human, have we 'shrunk' Jesus from awesome, holy, powerful God to a biddable companion along the way? Or, because he was born as a tiny, helpless baby, are we perhaps unable to fully see that Jesus, the tiny baby, is our God; the only one able to save us and restore our relationship to God? 

Have you glimpsed the divine image projected onto the canvas of our humanity (especially in the very young) in your life lately?


And how is it that our youngest ones seem to feel that they are in charge of us?


In the midst of this very deep and profound theological concept, I hear the laughter of the universe pouring forth from our most mischievous God. 
      " Look to the little ones ....."

Godly play: peek-a-boo

Nap time?

NAP time???

YES!!!!

I am NOT pleased...

MORE!!!!!

Where are our minions? We want service! Anyone listening?

How many adults does it take to photograph two toddlers?

In the midst of trying and polarizing theological debate in my denomination, I step back in faith from the fray and encourage the people God has given me to minister to and with. I try to encourage them to discern the way Christ is leading them, the direction of their particular life ministry, and to go there.  

Am I concerned about individuals? Of course. Am I concerned about the future of the church? Not at all. There will always be a church, Paul makes that clear here. There cannot be a head without a body... and Christ's body IS the church. Will it necessarily be MY beloved church the way I like it? Does it really matter? Alleluia!

ADVENT 2B (December 4, 2011)

This week the Advent series I chose to follow shared in Reformed Worship 101 uses Col. 1: 9-17 to 'look for the REAL Jesus'. This week we find Jesus, our King. Thanks to Sally A. Brown's blog on Working Preacher for Christ the King, Year A, 2010 for her contribution to my understanding.

This is another way of phrasing what scholars have called 'the cosmic Christ; for a very long time. The Son of God who is not only the visible image of the invisible God, above all, but is the one both through whom and for whom things were created -- including the 'powers and principalities' of the world. Christ existed before all else and is the matrix, the point of origin, of all coherence and sensibility for all created things.

To put it another way: Paul's emphasis here is not on the fall of creation or of a corrupted one, but on the claim that creation makes sense because of the Son. Period. Since the beginning of time. end of discussion.

There is a baptismal connection here as to the reality of our true identity. Is our mental image of the cosmic Christ, of King Jesus, any where near big enough? Can we allow him to do the promised work of reconciliation to bring who and what we and the whole creation are right now to the fulfillment of God's kingdom?

stone on Tara that, when a true king's foot was placed on it, cried out his name

 

queen of the rock? --  the Cloisters, Iona, Scotland

baptismal font at Lindisfarne (Holy Island), England