Piloting Faith: Have a frazzled Christmas...
A Word for the Day...
We have rented the park near our home in Atlanta and are hosting a community "Eve of Christmas Eve" service on December 23rd. Neighbors will bring their lawn chairs. We will set up a big tent with string lights and bales of hay to slightly recreate a "manger" feel. We will have a string quartet playing as we sing our favorite Christmas carols and listen to the Christmas story. We will close singing "Silent Night" while holding candles - my favorite moment of the season.
I spent the morning reading the Christmas story from the Gospel of Matthew as part of my preparation. It's a really short, concise telling of how Jesus was born. I've read it dozens of times. This time I was struck by what it left out - the chaos that Mary and Joseph must have been experiencing. The fear she might have felt to show up one day pregnant with a rather implausible explanation. What must Joseph have been feeling to hear this crazy story from his betrothed? It was such a chaotic, trying moment that an angel appeared to explain it all. Angels appearing is always a sign in the Bible that crazy stuff might be happening, but we shouldn't panic.
We risk domesticating Jesus' birth when we forget the real humanity and vulnerability of the moment. When you need an angel to appear, life is getting REAL. It matters that Jesus - Emmanuel (God with us) - was born to scared and frazzled parents, in borrowed space, as immigrants traveling from one town to another, trusting in the generosity of strangers to help them through.
That means that the rest of us can also be scared and frazzled this season. We can feel homeless in our sense of purpose in life. We can feel vulnerable every step along the way. We can feel anxious about asking for help from strangers.
That's a REAL Christmas. All of the glitter and all of the mess. Both are sacred and holy.
I hope these next few days as we near Christmas both break you open and heal you anew. That's what new birth does. You are never the same. Let all of it be what it will be. If it gets really bad, you'll hear from an angel in the form of a friend or a stranger. That's how God breaks through. So, Come, O Come Emmanuel. We are so ready for you.
- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight
Prayer for the Week
Loving God,
Sometimes I can look at someone and see their pain. I can see their loneliness and feel their sadness. Sometimes I look in the mirror and see those things in me. Help me to not turn away or ignore what I or others are really feeling. Give me the patience to sit with my neighbors as they navigate their pain and welcome their accompaniment as I navigate my own. Through it all, help us all remember that we are not alone. You are with us always.
Amen.
