Santa brought me gifts
In the midst of my last existential crisis, my life coach asked what it was I truly wanted in life and I responded: to be self-actualized – and she then asked what would you like your work to be and I responded: to help others become self-actualized.
Yesterday morning, December 25th, Christmas 2013, on a splendidly crisp winter’s day, I walked from the Spirit House to City Park listening on my iPod to Meryl Streep read Colin Tobin’s The Testament of Mary and as I glided under the beauty and weight of her voice and Tobin’s words I felt my soul soar.
I almost went to Christmas Eve services at First Grace on the corner, but have been reluctant because – well, I’m Jewish – but here is what Pastor Shawn said in his sermon last night: “Christmas is auspicious and it cannot be contained in the church or in Bethlehem. Like the star in the East, God transcends all boundaries and all religions, and on Christmas God leaks into every corner seeking us wherever we in fact are. The Irish called auspicious nights like this — THIN PLACES. Nights and places where heaven and earth are so close that shepherds and angels have conversation; Zoroastrian Magi and young Jewish mothers mingle freely, and a time when almost anyone — anyone can hear the angels singing.” Which is why I thought about going.
As I listened to an angel speaking in my ear (Streep), I thought of all the gifts in my life delivered with such aplomb that sometimes they have nearly startled me and when I came to the fountain in the park where someone has knit a scarf for the beautiful stone woman who graces it, I threw my penny in for gratitude – not a wishing, but a thanking instead.
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The whole point of Jesus’s life was not that we should become exactly like him, but that we should become ourselves in the same way he became himself. Jesus was not the great exception but the great example.
~ Carl Jung
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Pastor Shawn’s Christmas Message
. . .
Our story tells us that God comes through the birth of a child; born in the dead, silence of the night, in a town of no regard, in a barn because no one cared much, with parents who are not sure they want to be together but feel called by circumstance—it should be sad and tragic, but we know different.
Emmanuel comes not in the castle but in the barn, not with the well-connected but with the disconnected, not safely surrounded by family; but in a manger, and looking on— a cow, two sheep and a tired old donkey warn-out from the trip.
It’s a good story with good theology. We get it.
Emmanuel’s authority is not from the principalities and powers that shape much of our lives to their advantage, but from the heavens; and, he favors the lowly.
Over time, some people will come to be known as “people of the light” and they will choose to follow and trust in the ways of Emmanuel— it will shape and challenge the way they spend their time, and their money, the way they use their gifts, raise their children, and treat others. And through this effort they hope to gain peace and to promote goodwill to all people.
I know—it sounds a little crazy, but its crazy good. Living peaceably is often a little crazy looking when you consider the tyranny of the facts all around you.
After 2000 years it seems clear that Emmanuel’s loving and peaceful insurrection will continue to play out from generation to generation.
2000 years later we have also learned that tonight belongs to more than just the church—we are the guardians of Christmas but not the source.
Christmas is auspicious and it cannot be contained in the church or in Bethlehem. Like the star in the East, God transcends all boundaries and all religions, and on Christmas God leaks into every corner seeking us wherever we in fact are.
The Irish called auspicious nights like this —THIN PLACES. Nights and places where heaven and earth are so close that shepherds and angels have conversation; Zoroastrian Magi and young Jewish mothers mingle freely, and a time when almost anyone— anyone can hear the angels singing.
It’s a day that can lead Dickens to believe that Scrooge will throw his money out the window, and Dr. Seuss to believe that the Grinch’s heart can expand to three times its size.
Such imminence may seem like a fleeting nearness, but it is no less real than the retail return lines on December 26th.
Pastor Shawn’s reading recommendations for 2014
• The Examined Life— how we lose and find ourselves, Stephen Grosz
• All About Love—new visions, bell hooks (part I of her three part trilogy on love)
• Traveling Mercies—some thoughts on faith, Anne Lamott
• Help, Thanks, Wow—three essential prayers, Anne Lamott
• Praying Like a Women, Nicola Slee
• Wonder, R.J. Palacio (a novel for children and everybody else about a 5th grade boy with facial deformities who attends school for the first time.)
• Peace from Broken Pieces: how to get through what you’re going through, Iyanla Vanzant