Christmas I 12/31/23
The Still Point
A Time of Meditation and Reflection
The First Sunday after Christmas
... At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance...
T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton
Peace on each one who comes in need;
Peace on each one who comes in joy.
Peace on each one who offers prayers;
Peace on each one who offers song.
Peace of the Maker, Peace of the Son,
Peace of the Spirit, the Triune One.
Opening Prayer
O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: 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.
The Gospel Luke 1:26-38
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Poem: “Holy Family” by Jay Hulme (b. 1997)
Christ had brothers
Do you remember
Half-forgotten in gospel song
bit-parts
with single lines Denied by those
desperate for a virgin mother to remain untouched
Perfection is what happens when
myth overtakes the reality
When wanting erases the truth already there
Imagine
being venerated by those who deny your children
Imagine
centuries of men declaiming the love of your kin
Imagine
it said that you never held your husband never cradled him close
Closer soft curve hard flesh whispered promise
Imagine
Acting on love doesn't make you any less holy
this wanting cannot preclude a person from faith
I think on dark nights
Mary pulled Joseph closer
Counted their five sons their daughters
each one miraculous the oldest God
I think many times they added
to holy creation their saviour sleeping soundly
A baby still and snoring at their feet.
Meditation
Let this be your invitation to spend some time in prayer or meditation while gazing at a creche this Christmastide. It might feel a bit "much" to adore the creche at first, but hear me out. Each figure in a Nativity scene has something to tell us about what it means to be in loving relationship with God, to trust God completely, to live faithfully day by day.
This Christmas my adoration time has been focused on the little statue of the infant Jesus. In St. Andrew's' creche, his arms are outstretched in a posture not unlike the posture of Jesus' arms on the cross (that's almost certainly not a coincidence). One of the lovely things about Christmastide is that it is jam-packed with various church feasts, so there's no shortage of rich imagery and saintly stories to reflect upon. This New Year's weekend marks the Feast of the Holy Family or the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, depending on who you ask. So what's in a Holy Name? Looking at those tiny outstretched baby fingers, I'm reminded of the passage from Isaiah... "For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
It is a tremendous thing to imagine the authority of God resting upon the shoulders of a little baby. When we think of authority figures, we tend to think big. A portly king like Henry VIII. A conquering hero riding a stallion to victory. Massive monuments. A baby lying on some straw in an ordinary barn is about the last place anyone looks for a Supreme Governor.
Yet that is the place where the Almighty God establishes his eternal reign - in the tender heart of human vulnerability, in the most fragile, most unprotected moment of life. By the act of the Incarnation God states in no uncertain terms how we are to be in relationship with God. When we seek God continually in the most ordinary, vulnerable, fragile places of our selves and our communities and our world, there we will see God's face; there, we may truly come to know him. O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!
Questions for Reflection
Bring to mind three vulnerable places: in your life, in our community, in our world. One by one, imagine a creche in those places. What does it mean for God's authority to rest on the shoulders of that vulnerability?
Consider each figure in a Nativity scene. What makes each person ordinary? What makes them special? How are they changed if we consider the baby they are focused on to be the Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace?
A sacrament is an ordinary thing that becomes holy by the power of God: water, bread, wine, relationships...what ordinary things has God made holy in your life?
Prayers
We bring before God someone whom we have met or remembered today
We bring to God someone who is hurting tonight and needs our prayer
We bring to God a troubled situation in our world
We bring to God, silently, someone whom we find hard to forgive or trust
We bring ourselves to God that we might grow in generosity of spirit, clarity of mind, and warmth of affection
We offer our thanks to God for the blessings in our lives
We name before God those who have died.
Gracious God, you hear all our prayers: those we speak aloud, those we hold in our hearts, and those prayers for which we have no words. Hear the prayers of your people, and grant them as may be best for us, for the sake of your holy name. Amen.
Accept our thanks for all you have done, O God. Our hands were empty, and you filled them.
May Christ’s holy, healing, enabling Spirit be with us every step of the way, and be our guide as our road changes and turns, and the blessing of God our Creator, Redeemer and Giver of life be among us now and remain with us forever. Amen.
Reflections this Month, offered by Katie Schmidt
