Tonight is New Years Eve and tomorrow begins 2017.  Before we step across that threshold it is important, I think, to remember the moments of this past year.  I was awakened at 3:30 this morning experiencing some of those treasured moments.  I like this quote from Dr. Seuss…

Some moments will disappear, but some will remain treasured into 2017 for they have become a part of us.  As I pondered this one morning last week, I was sitting on the back deck of my friend’s home in Roswell, Georgia.

This trip to Atlanta, the barren trees of winter seemed to speak to me.  The absence of leaves brought open space that is not realized in the lush growth of greenness.  The branches intertwining awakened patterns of design and connections.  Beauty broke in!  The sudden light of the cross appearing in the sky brought Presence, Hope, Love, saying “All is well”.  

So, here comes 2017 and “turning over a new leaf”!  What will that look like?  Pondering “resolutions”, new directions, focus, priorities…there are a couple of things that stand out for me.

I want to do more with my creative gifts of art and writing.  Above is a sketch I did .  I like the strength and stability, the soul of the tree.  I love the light that brings energy, dances, and yet is allusive to the mystery of what is still appearing and remains to be fully known.

These thoughts from “Soul Keeping” by John Ortberg speak to me about living in sustaining grace…

I think I will spend some time in 2017 doing what Jesus did.  Happy New Year to each of you!  Thank you for being a part of my writing in 2016.  I treasure this time with you!

nk

Pondering…

Your priorities for 2017…

Love came down at Christmas in the birth of the Christ Child.  We come to kneel at the manger and we see God face to face.

(“The Adoration of the Shepherds” insert, by Christian W.E. Dietrich)

As we come face to face with God, we encounter the fullness of God as “Emmanuel”, God with us.  In that same encounter is our face, the fullness of all God created in us to be and to become.  Here is a Christmas blessing for you from “A Blessing of Angels” by Joyce Rupp…

“May the angel of birthing bless you, calling forth wonder, awe, and gratitude for all that has helped you to become your true self.”

In coming face to face with God at the manger, we experience the LOVE of God, and that LOVE comes to live in us.  “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and anyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God; for God is love”  (I John 4: 7-8).

I love this photograph of Elva Azzara, age 93.  It is from the book, “Wise Women”, photographer Joyce Tenneson.  I want this to be me at 93!

Ah, the gift at the manger!  Love to you my friend….Merry Christmas!

nk

I remember last year on Christmas Eve we were with our grandchildren.  Following the candlelight service at church, we had birthday cake and sang to Baby Jesus. The children then, on their own initiative, decided that they were going to dance and sing for the neighbors.  Their Dad took his iPhone to play the music, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.  They rang door bells as if they were trick or treating, house to house.  Neighbors came to their doors and experienced Callie and Travis singing while Molly, wearing her white ballet costume, twirled, leaped, and pirouetted across the yards.

This just had to be close to an all time favorite Christmas Eve for me.  Joy could not be contained!  Worship took place through dancing.  I am reminded of the song, “Lord of the Dance”, lyrics by Sydney Carter…

” I danced in the morning when the world was begun, and I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun, and I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth.  At Bethlehem I had my birth.  Dance, then, wherever you may be; I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.  And I’ll lead you all wherever you may be, and I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.”

The following painting of the nativity is by DOLAZAK and is in a gallery in Dubrovnik, Croatia.  It seems to express this joyful dancing that bursts forth out of the Light, the Savior, born on Christmas. The poem is from “Laughter, Silence, & Shouting” by Kathy Keay…

Let’s do it!  Let’s you and I find a moment to dance the joy of Christmas Eve.  I’ll be dancing with at least one or all three of my grandchildren and their new puppy!

nk

Pondering…

Don’t ponder it too long….Dance!!

In Matthew, chapter 2, we read about the wise men and their journey to the manger.  This night contained their long awaited joy.

(my grandson Travis in the middle, with his two buddies)

The wise men came a long way.  They had been watching the stars, searching the heavens, for a long time.  Why did they come?  What do you see in your mind when you picture the wise men?  Were they “rough and ready”, tough, desert travelers, kicking dust, out to conquer any terrain?

Were they sages and seers, those who diligently studied the stars and sought the deepest truth through the signs of the heavens?

(from “The Story of Christmas” by Felix Hoffmann)

Were the wise men royalty, dressed in regalia, a presence of power and influence seeking to encounter  a greater mystery?

(from “The Indescribable Gift” by Richard Exley, artist Phil Boatright)

 

We can only imagine.  But here is what we do know.  There are two words which stand out in this scripture.  “We have SEEN his star in the east and are COME to worship him.” ( verse 2).  In the original Greek language, the word used here for “see” is not merely to observe or see with the eyes.  It is to see at a deeper level, to see also with the mind, to understand, to personally experience.  When the wise men saw the star, “his star”, it was not just any star, not just a special star with an exceptionally bright light.  What they saw was the light of Christ, and they KNEW.  They would follow this star to the ends of the earth because they had personally experienced the light of their salvation.  Their lives were changed forever.

So they came to worship the Christ Child.  The Greek word used here was not just to travel from one place to another.  The word here, “COME” was equivalent to “BELIEVE”. Worship then becomes a natural response to coming to Jesus and believing.  They were Kings who came because they believed and could do nothing less than worship the true King.  The Greek word here for “WORSHIP” is to fall prostrate in reverence and awe, and to adore.  ” And when they came they saw the young child…fell down and worshiped him, and opened their treasures.”

When we, by God’s grace, truly COME and SEE, would we not also fall on our knees before this child who is God and with everything in us adore him?  I want that!

nk

Pondering…

How do you picture the wise men?

How might you and I adore the Baby Jesus?

What treasure might we bring?

 

This Advent Journey won’t let me proceed to the manger without first hearing clearly what Mary said after the Angel appeared to her and announced that she would give birth to the Messiah.  Out of Mary’s mouth poured these words found in Luke 1: 46-55, often referred to as “The Magnificat”. (Painting, “Gentle Virgin” by Rogier van der Weyden, 15th century Columba Altarpiece)

The coming of the Messiah was about love and light and mercy and grace and salvation.  It was also about JUSTICE.  So as much as the birth in the manger was about peace and love, it was also challenging and unsettling as it proclaimed justice.  The hand of God would be reaching out to the world to bless in unexpected ways.

(Photographer Dave Budnik from Magnum)

There have been times in my life when God has called me to step out into new territory to understand more deeply, to see more clearly, and to take a stand in some form or fashion for justice.  Mostly that has come through mission trips.  The following photo is from Corozal, Belize.  My friend is a pastor’s wife there.

Last summer our family gathered for vacation in Colorado.  My son, who is an architect, got me aside for a quiet moment.  I could tell there was something on his mind.  Quite intently, he said, “Mom, remember the church I told you about…that I might be doing a design for their new building.  They had told me all about their vision for the future.  Well, we were set to go when I read about their beliefs.  They do not believe in ordaining female clergy.  I sat before their council along with the contractor for the project, and told them I could no longer continue as their architect.  I told them my Mom is a minister and that I have seen lives touched by her ministry.  I told them I could not do this project because of their stand against female pastors.”

I was overwhelmed…with pride at the strength of my son’s conviction…with admiration of his courage and determination to step forward and speak out…with love in his sacrificial gift to me and other women called to ministry.  This cost him a significant job that he had been excited about. My son was doing this in the name of JUSTICE.  And today’s scripture in Luke, Mary’s words from God, say that Jesus’ birth is about justice!  If we look at Jesus’ life, it was very much about justice.  He stood for and with the lonely, the lost, the outcast.

I have to look at our world today and ask myself,  “Where would Jesus be born today?  How do I come to the manger?”  Lord, help me.  I want to be your servant.

nk

Pondering…

Where might God be calling us to justice?

 

 

 

The very spot in the vastness of all the universe, where God came to be born as the Christ Child, was on planet earth, in a small town called Bethlehem, in a stable with animals, on a bed of hay called a manger. Wow!

(painting from “The Stable Where Jesus Was Born”, artist Susan Gaber).

 

( from “The Very First Christmas” artist Francisco Ordaz)

Today we enter the final week of our Advent Journey.  I would encourage us to watch, anticipate, become aware as we are awakened to the presence of God in ordinary places.  I was just reading this poem by Roberta Porter…

The poem nudged me to again think of the ordinary place in which the Christ Child was born.  I remembered the grocery store just yesterday…. As I was contemplating the homemade soups in the deli section, a woman pushing her cart stops and says, “Try this one!  It’s delicious!”  She goes on to tell me about her friend whose son just committed suicide, “I took her this soup, along with this bread.” (She holds up the bread in her cart).  “I was thinking she could just eat this wherever, even in her bedroom, with a glass of wine…or the whole bottle.” (She holds up the bottle of wine in her grocery cart).  She went on and on about how much her friend enjoyed the soup.  I began to realize that in this moment, it really had little to do with the soup.  It was about this woman’s need to tell me about her friend.  It made me think about the extreme sorrows that exist in our world.  Ah…God present in an ordinary place.

On a different aisle in the grocery that day, an older gentleman in a motorized wheelchair began to tell me about how frustrated he was….”I can’t find anything!  I have been shopping here for over 10 years.  Now they have changed everything, and I can’t find anything!”  (He was looking for the BBQ sauce).  He is right.  It has all changed, and it is very confusing!  I began to realize that his conversation wasn’t so much about the BBQ sauce as it was about having someone hear and understand.  Change can be so difficult…and this is only the grocery aisle!  What about the world outside these doors?!!  Ah, God is present again in this ordinary place.

One more thing….I found this wonderful creamy rich ice cream which I am having right now!

They certainly were correct to title it “White Chocolate Raspberry YUM! “.  As much as I enjoy this ice cream, perhaps the manger is calling me to get on my knees and watch for God in the places of pain and struggle, the places beyond the YUM!

nk

Pondering…

Where have you experienced God’s presence lately in an ordinary place?

 

 

 

Christmas is all about LOVE, really.  In I Corinthians, chapter 13, the apostle Paul talks about the Love that comes from God as seen in the Christ Child…“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.”.  One of my favorite children’s books is entitled “All the Places to Love” by Patricia MacLachlan, paintings by Mike Wimmer.  The story is told by a small boy at the birth of his little sister.  He remembers his own birth..

He recalls his granddad carving his name on the rafter of the barn along with the names of other family members…

Eli explains the love he feels through his grandparents sharing their favorite places with him…the field, the barn, the river, picking blueberries, turtles and toads crossing his path…

When his little sister is born, Granddad carves her name on the rafter beside Eli’s name…

Eli decides he will show his little sister all the places to love, and tells her that she will find them all right where she is, no matter where she lives.  “Where else does a turtle or a toad crossing your path make all the difference in the world?”

On our Advent Journey we discover that all our names are carved in the rafters of the stable where the Baby Jesus was born, Savior of the world.  We are all part of the family of God.  And out of that gift comes all the places to love, wherever we might be.

nk

Pondering…

If you were to show someone your favorite places to love, where would you take them?

 

I have always loved the shepherds.  Perhaps it is the West Texas in me.  San Angelo, my home town, was the wool capital of the world!  (It’s a shock I know!).  Or perhaps it’s because that frowzy, scruffy crew were the most unlikely characters to be visited by the Angels and featured in the story of that holy night.  They were “out of the box” sort of people and I love that.

(from “The Story of Christmas” by Felix Hoffmann)

Frederick Buechner, in his book “The Magnificent Defeat” imagines a first person account of the night the Angels came…

The shepherd goes on to say that the emptiness of the air suddenly became brightness everywhere.  Silence turned into the beating of thousands of wings…and voices like trumpets.  “The words were something like what I’d yelled with my mouth full of bread.  ‘By God, it’s good brothers!  The crust.  The mud.  Everything.  Everything!'”

The scriptures tell us in Luke, chapter 2 that the shepherds took off running to Bethlehem.  I can only imagine their unhindered, uncensored release of emotion at the joy of experiencing Angels and seeing the Christ Child in the manger…knowing their Savior!  Perhaps it looked like this…

Or like this…

(from “My Son, My Savior” by Calvin Miller, artist Ron DiCianni)

Or even like this…

(from “The Nativity”, illustrated by Julie Vivas)

Now, in case you are wondering about the title of this blog post…I evidently signed up for Dictionary.com and new words come to me each day.  Many I do not recognize, but when “ripsnorter” popped up one day I had to smile.  It was a term I knew well.  Out in West Texas we might say, “It was a ripsnorting good time”.  You just let go and have the time of your life.  Well, yes!  The shepherds…the unabashed joy of it all!  They left that cradle to run tell the world with exuberance, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard.  “By God, it’s good!  Everything!”

I say, let them ripsnort all they want!  Their joy is contagious!

nk

Pondering…

Are you in any way like the shepherds?

 

 

 

An angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds on their night watch.  With the angel came GLORY.  This wasn’t just a special light, it was the fullness of God that is present in the person of Jesus Christ.  Written in the gospel of John, chapter one… “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”(verse 1)  “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” (verse 9)  “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (verse 14).

(from “My Son, My Savior”, written by Calvin Miller, artist Ron DiCianni)

The Angel announced the birth of the Savior.  Then a multitude of the heavenly host came proclaiming GLORY. My friend has a beautiful small white porcelain nativity with wonderfully expressive angels bringing glory.

It seems that the angels just flew in through the window straight from heaven.  My friend explained that the angels had belonged to her mother.  “There are only seven.  I am thinking there were probably eight and one may have gotten lost”, she said.  “Well, here is another thought”, I offered.  “In the Bible the number seven means complete, a fullness, a fruition.  It is the same as God creating the universe in seven days.  It was complete.”

It was fun to imagine those seven angels represented the entire host of heavenly angels!  I wonder if the angels ever got weary of their night calling?

(one of 12 angels in a triptych painted by Fra Angelico in the 15th c. for the Linen Guild of Florence, Italy).

Maybe angels even babysat for Mary when she was exhausted and couldn’t stay awake any longer! GLORY BE !

( “Angels and the Holy Child” by Marianne Stokes)

nk

Pondering…

Have you ever experienced an angel?

 

Advent is a time to wonder.  Who of us can truly fathom that Almighty God came to earth as a baby born in a manger? How can we begin to comprehend that the Christ Child is both fully God and fully human?  In the song, “I Hope You Dance”, Mark D. Sanders writes, “I hope you never lose your sense of wonder…I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean…”.  Wonder is quite critical in our journey to the manger.  We will see Jesus and awestruck, we will rejoice at the wonder of it all.

Recently I participated in a time of “wondering” at Lanier Theological Library.  A panel of theologians and Hebrew Bible scholars discussed the meaning of the Hebrew word “Hesed”.  There are 169 different translations for this word,  and it is used 245 times in the Bible.  There is not an exact word in English, but those included might be loving kindness, grace, mercy, faithfulness, steadfast love.  Hesed is a relationship term and it is always something  God gives.  Hesed incorporates the understanding that we have no right to expect anything, but God gives everything.  God will give Godself.  The strong commitment by God to deliver God’s people is wrapped up in the word Hesed.

All of this wondering about the truest meaning of the word took place in a chapel which is a reconstruction of a 500 a.d. church in Turkey.  The view in the video is the altar as seen sitting in the pew.  In closing, we all sang “El Shaddai” in unison.  The Hebrew words in the song are “God Almighty, the Most High God, O Lord, we will love you!” (You may need to turn up the volume to hear)

Voices proclaiming together the magnitude and timelessness of Almighty God seemed to join in chorus with voices of 500 a.d. in a breathtaking stillness.  Above the altar the arms of “Hesed” reached out to embrace us all in one holy moment.

A few days later I returned to the chapel with two friends. The three of us were alone there.  As they sat in different pews and contemplated the beauty all around, I laid down on the floor, flat on my back in the center of the nave.  I looked up at the dome above me.

(chapel paintings by Richard McCluskey)

I was embraced by stories of the scriptures portrayed in beautiful paintings.  I was held in the wonder of Hesed!

nk

Pondering…

Consider a moment when you were held in the wonder of God.